Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown -headed Cowbird males ( Molothrus ater)

The brown -headed cowbird ( Molothrus ater) is a North American songbird of the family of blackbirds.

Features

The bird has a short finch -like beak, and dark eyes. The adult male is mainly glossy black colored with a brown head. The female is gray in color with a lighter chest and a finely dotted underside.

Occurrence

The Brown -headed Cowbird lives in open and semi- open landscapes in most parts of North America. While the southern populations are resident birds, pull the northern to the southern United States or Mexico. He pulls in crowds, sometimes together with the Red-winged Blackbird and the star. In winter, the bird is a frequent visitor to bird feeders.

Behavior

The brown -headed cowbird is looking at the ground for insects that are attracted or disturbed by grazing animals.

Reproduction

The brown -headed cowbird is a brood parasite, which in nests of other small songbirds, particularly in shell nests, like those of gold warbler, lays its eggs. The young brown-headed cowbird being fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young players. The brown -headed cowbird can lay up to 36 eggs a year. Over 140 bird species are known to be victims of brood parasites. If the alien eggs are recognized by the host parents, they react in different ways. The cats choke pecks on the eggs. Other birds build a new nest over the old one. Sometimes the hatched brown-headed cowbirds are thrown out of the nest.

Studies by Jeffrey Hoover and Scott Robinson have shown that the Brown -headed Cowbird in half of the cases the nests of lemon warbler destroyed if he refuses to raise strange offspring. When the lemon Warbler had previously successfully defended against an egg-laying of the brood parasite in their own nest, the nests were completely spared.