Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Brown-headed Cowbird - Caught in the Act!
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NestWatch07
A female Brown-headed Cowbird is caught on camera laying an egg in the nest of a Northern Cardinal. When she's done, she removes one cardinal egg and apparently damages the other.
Cowbirds make no nest of their own. Females lay eggs in the nests of other songbirds — over 200 species have been recorded. A majority of them don't recognize the egg as an imposter and treat it as their own. Cowbird eggs usually hatch before the hosts' eggs, and thus cowbird chicks get more than their fair share of the food.
(Please ignore the buzzing sound from the camera's microphone)