#Cowbird

[feather-bone]

Brown-headed cowbird! This big blackbird is an obligate brood parasite - meaning they don’t build nests to raise young, and instead lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. They choose smaller songbirds’ nests, and the chicks are raised with their host family (usually to the detriment of at least some of the host’s own chicks). Cowbird chicks hatch and grow quickly, outcompeting the smaller host chicks - and often the cowbird chick will dwarf their host parent by the time they are fledging. Cowbirds thrive in disturbed or agricultural grassland at the forest’s edge, feeding on the seeds of grasses and weeds. They like to hang out around livestock, picking off grasshoppers and beetles that are flushed out of hiding by grazing animals.

[ID: an illustration of a male cowbird, an iridescent black bird with a brown head. It is facing to the right, perched on a stump, and behind it is a wreath of poison ivy on a light blue background. End.]

#birds #avian art #avians #cowbird #blackbird

[revretch]

I was out sitting in a field sketching today when a little bird started hanging around me! She started getting closer and closer, until finally she hopped up on my foot, then on my leg, then on my other leg! She must have climbed on me at least four different times! (She also tried to eat my pencil and pooped on my shoe.)

Anyway, I looked her up and it turns out she was a brown-headed cowbird--a type of brood parasite, like a cuckoo! They even have the mafia tactics of cuckoos, laying their eggs in the nests of littler birds and destroying them if their offspring isn't cared for.

I hope she lives a long happy life and terrorizes many little birds to come

#rev retches #bird #cowbird #brown-headed cowbird #parasite #brood parasite

[thomas--bombadil]

A catbird enjoys a sunny morning.

#midwest #summertime #cowbird #nature photography #bird watching #birbs #wildlife photography #birds #wildlife #bird #birdwatching #wildlife photos #birding #birblr #nature photos #bird photos #bird photography #bird pics #nature #original photography #original photographers

[alcnfr]

A Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) splashing in the hanging birdbath...

#nature #my photography #brown headed cowbird #nature photography #cowbird #wildlife photography #bird bathing #bird bath

[ostdrossel]

We are now

in a nice stretch of very cold winter weather, with temperatures that make the inside of your nose feel funny when you go outside. It won’t be for long, so I am thoroughly enjoying. The snow makes for a great background, and there are lots of birds visiting. Each coping in their own way with the cold. A couple of Cowbirds have arrived, and yesterday I also saw a Grackle!

#birds #backyard birds #Blue Jay #corvids #Cowbird #Goldfinch #Junco #birds of Michigan #birds of north america #birdwatching #birdlovers #nature #Ostdrossel #birdphotography

[brooklynbridgebirds]

Brown-headed Cowbird Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3

#birds #birding #urban birding #nuts_about_birds #birdstagram #patch birding #nature blogger #nyc nature #brooklyn #brooklyn bridge park #nyc #nature #migration #mirlo #cowbird #blackbird #brown headed cowbird

[vintagewildlife]

Cowbirds By: Arthur A. Allen From: The Book of Bird Life 1961

#cowbird #bird #1961 #1960s #Arthur A. Allen #The Book of Bird Life (1961)

[aevris]

galaxy’s worst couple

#safer harbours #OC: fern #OC: lamia #cowbird #booted eagle #avian #anthro bird #anthro art #anthro AU

[thesingingbullfrog]

#cowbird #nature photography #wildlife photography #photographers on tumblr #original photography #birds #bird watching

[jettkuso]

Soundwave, but he turns into a single wireless earbud and hides as part of your set, tossing out one of your AirPods, like a bird hiding its egg in another bird’s nest.

#transformers #soundwave #cowbird #brood parasites

[zoology-time]

Brown-headed Cowbird (juvenile), Molothrus ater

Brown-headed cowbirds are parasitic egg-layers, meaning they lay their eggs in the nest of other birds so they don’t have to lose energy raising the young themselves. This is why I also didn’t seen any adults nearby. I think it might have been cared for by a chipping sparrow or song sparrow, as those birds were close by.

#brown headed cowbird #cowbird #bird #ID

[doomspaniels]

Snippets from Around the Farm (sort of)

I was so tired when I got out of the hospital, folks, so tired. I still have edited photos that I never posted. More unedited, though mostly I was too tired to even pick up my phone to get pictures at all. These are funny, though, so I will share them now.

When I left the hospital to go home, after a week, this egret fella followed me and the car around. (TFaTB went to get the car while I sat in front of the entry, it chased the car until I was in it, then stood and stared as I got in & we drove away.) It was the only cowbird we saw anywhere near the hospital. We laughingly speculated that Firefly, my horse, sent her army of cowbirds to track me down, because I had been gone too long. They're not great undercover spies, but you work with what you have.

I got the most amazing gnarly scar. They had this IV apparatus hooked into my neck. That red and purple and green is all bruising and stuff, not blood. Left me with a tidy little... vampire bite. Yeah, that's become a permanent scar. On top of my cyborg spine implant, and new Frankensteinien heart patch plus electric revival. I think I just made bingo, though I am not sure what on.

#snippets from Around the Farm #sort of #cattle egret #cowbird #injury #kinda #surgical scar #scar #vampire bite #gnarly dude #the 💔 saga #cyborg Frankenstein zombie vampire #this sounds like some new rock scissors paper variant #now I just need a version of lycanthropy

[boy-warbler]

Brown-headed cowbird at Tommy Thompson Park. It looks like this guy has been banded

#cowbird #banding

[thomas--bombadil]

A content-looking female cowbird. 

#midwest #Summertime #cowbird #brown-headed cowbird #female cowbird #birds #birding #bird #songbird #Birdwatching #birbs #birblr #bird photos #wild bird photography #bird photography #nature photography #wildlife photography #wildlife photos #bird pics #wildlife #wild animals #original photography #original photography on tumblr

[alcnfr]

A female Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) dining on the chickenic table this morning...

#nature #my photography #feedlot #brown headed cowbird #nature photography #cowbird #wildlife photography #wild birds #chickenic table

[saint-nevermore]

bird studies

sources: x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x / x (special mention to @parrot-parent for their lovely red boy Merlin)

#fraizer draws #birds #bird #parrot-parent #cowbird #pigeon #kestrel #hornbill #swallow #tanager #finch #tern #animals #studies #art #grouse