Many consider cowbirds to be a nuisance. Setting up backyard bird feeders or a birdbath are simple and easy ways to enjoy birdwatching in your own yard while supporting local bird populations. That ...

Cowbird brood parasitism can further affect species that are considered threatened or endangered due to anthropogenic land uses. Historically, cowbirds have often been culled without addressing ...

"In the competition of nestlings for food, the faster-growing cowbirds win, often starving the young buntings and even ...

The other morning a mixed flock of blackbirds, maybe 200 strong, landed on the bare branches, the ground and in the bushes by ...

From savage cowbirds to more subtle catfish, see a range of species that trick others into raising their young.

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are brood parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of host species. Cowbird chicks typically grow up in mixed broods consisting of one or more cowbird chicks ...

For hosts of brood parasitic birds, the costs of parasitism range from diminished nestling growth rate, due to competition with larger and more competitive parasitic offspring (cowbirds ...

A female cowbird may lay as many as 40 eggs during the nesting season. Eggs are white with brown spots and are usually larger than host eggs. Female cowbirds remove host eggs and nestling cowbirds ...

As the birds move off to another woodlot, their clucking calls can be heard as they sail overhead in a seemingly never-ending ...

Researchers have discovered that scarlet macaws purposefully neglect feeding the youngest chicks in most broods, even when resources are plentiful. This results in only one or two chicks being able to ...

It’s active against a number of birds including: Pheasants, blackbirds, crows, cowbirds, grackles and cranes.