BIRD DATA CARD

Occupying open forested habitats of all types, the Brown-headed Cowbird is a common species. It is most famous because it does not make a nest. Instead the sneaky female cowbird stakes out the nest of a blackbird, warbler, flycatcher, vireo or any of a multitude of other species and lays an egg in the owner’s nest while the parents are away. The host species then raises the young cowbird as one of their own, even though their own young may suffer malnutrition trying to compete with the faster-growing and larger cowbird parasite. Brown-headed Cowbirds feed on seeds and in the summer insects, which they often catch in cow pastures. As the cattle meander through the pasture, their large hooves scare up insects from the grass, and the cowbirds catch them before they escape. Cowbirds have benefitted greatly from clearing of forest and introduction of cattle.