Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
- HABITAT - Brown-headed Cowbirds are native to the United States and Canada. They prefer open grasslands, as well as agricultural, urban, and suburban habitats where grain or cattle-disturbed soil are readily available.
- DIET - Brown-headed Cowbirds eat mainly insects and seeds. Seeds make up about half the diet in the summer and up to 90% during the winter.
- FACTS - Brown-headed Cowbirds originally had a lifestyle of following the herds of bison. Because of this, they could not stay at any one place long enough to build nests, hatch and raise young as the herd would have moved on along with their food source. Survival meant that they would have to adapt to what is known as brood parasite breeding. Cowbirds lay their eggs in nest of other birds and let the unknowing adopting mother to take care of their young, almost always leaving the real young of the nest in peril.
- Cowbirds look for nests with eggs that are smaller than their own. This survival practice gives the young cowbirds a big advantage by being stronger and larger than the host’s young. Cowbird eggs hatch sooner than the other eggs in the nest giving a further advantage of maturing faster and out competing the rest of the nestlings, often pushing them out of the nest as they grow larger. Brown-headed Cowbirds have been known to lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Unfortunately, these are always smaller birds and often species that are becoming increasingly rare. We get to enjoy them for what they are, but sadly, the Brown-headed Cowbirds success has a cost.
Brown-headed Cowbird GALLERY
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