June 19, 1980 - Cowbird Has Different Way of Raising FamilySECOND SECTION
JUNE 19, 1980
Cowbird Has Different Way of Raising Family
This spring one of Orient's good citizens
called up because he had seen a bluebird
while out jogging. The hope was that
perhaps we would have a nesting pair of
bluebirds once again in our area. Some
thing I consider would be quite rare these
days. Unfortunately nothing ever mater-
ialized from this. The bird must have been
just passing through.
Another time Dr. Caufield called to tell '
me of a nest he had discovered where a
cowbird had laid its egg in another bird's
nest. He was a good observer of the natural
world. Sure enough, when my wife and I
drove down and investigated with him, we
found just that. It was the nest of the
familiar house finch, that gaudy, raspber-
ry- colored bird that all of us have at our
feeders and is so common throughout the
area. In amongst the almost pure white
eggs of the finch was a larger, single
speckled egg. I knew immediately what it
was, for I'd often seen it in other small
birds' nests.
Believe it or not, this egg placing in other
birds' nests is characteristic of the cow-
bird, and it is the only way the cowbird
perpetuates its own. It's sort of like some
of the modern concepts we have today
where children are left by their parents for
others to raise.
Often Spells Disaster
The problem is that the cowbird is
somewhat larger in comparison to the bird
whose nest it lays its eggs in. This often
spells disaster for the adopted parents'
own young. As the young cowbird grows it
becomes larger and demands more to eat.
It literally will crowd out the other smaller
young in the nest. I'm afraid the foster
parents are so caught up in providing that
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they go on feeding this big mouth to the
detriment of their own. Many times we see
the baby cowbird as the sole survivor,
following the adult birds around with
mouth open even though it now has
fledged. If you see a small adult bird
feeding a single large baby bird ... you can
be pretty sure it's the young of the
cowbird.
Some birds are wise to the cowbird's
tricks, and if their timing is right and the
cowbird deposits its egg first in the nest,
the host bird will build another nest right
over the top of the egg. The classic
example of this was a nest that Dr. Allen of
Cornell University found that had four or
five layers of nests on top of one another...
each one containing a single cowbird's
egg.
Female's Coloring Subdued
The true name of this scoundrel is the
brown - headed "cowbird, for the male has
an iridescent black body with a brown
head. The female is much more subdued...
sort of mottled brown all over. Cowbirds
can often be walked up on quite closely
before flying. Like most sparrows, they too
will come to your feeder, as they are seed
eaters, but prefer eating on the ground.
The name cowbird comes from their habit
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of feeding among pasture animals, partic-
ularly the cow.
So the next time you think our society is
going askew with the problems of mar-
riage, divorce, people living together, etc.,
remember the natural world has its
problems too, with the cowbird.
It deposits its egg in other birds' nests
and has none of the problems of nest
building or bringing up its young. That
sounds pretty good to some I'll bet, but I'm
afraid in our world it has many draw -
backs. I'll stick to the old- fashioned way,
for it's worked out well for my wife and
me.
PAUL STOUTENBURGH
COWBIRD EGG IN FINCH NEST - -The cowbird has none of the
problems of nest building or rearing its young. It merely finds a likable
nest, deposits its egg and lets the other bird do the work.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
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