Brown-headed Cowbird
“Gently pulling the two nests apart I noticed the small pieces of what appeared to be a brown cowbird egg!”
Through the year
Columns that mention it, by the month they were published.
Year by year
Columns that mention it each year.
In his words
All 10 passages, oldest first.
The first Cowbirds arrived on the last day of March.
On the morning of March 23, I was alerted to the rolling chatter and two-part sweeping whistles (what I like to refer to as a sick cry) of a Brown cowbird announcing its arrival in the treetops above my backyard.
Sadly, parasitism rates with Brown Cowbirds and Orchard Orioles are as high as 28%.
Interestingly, Brown Thrashers are the largest songbird to have their nests parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds.
Purple Finches can imitate songs from Barn Swallows, Goldfinches, Towhees and even Cowbirds.
Additionally on March 13 northbound travelers visiting our backyard included a Red-winged Blackbird, a Common Grackle and four Brown-headed Cowbirds.
Gently pulling the two nests apart I noticed the small pieces of what appeared to be a brown cowbird egg!
Additionally, towhees are not able to distinguish their own eggs from that of Brown-headed Cowbirds who heavily parasitize their nests.
On March 28 the first Brown-headed Cowbird arrived in our yard; fortunately it was run off by a Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Orchard Orioles are uncommon but regular breeders in Cape, though parasitism by Brown headed Cowbirds is rampant.