Several people reported a strange sight at their feeders this past week. In all cases, a small bird was busily feeding a much larger begging bird. The smaller bird was indeed the parent. Unfortunately ...

Many species of birds get reputations of various sorts. One species that gets a bad rap, through no fault of its own, is the brown-headed cowbird. The female cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of ...

Q. Do brown-headed cowbirds select the nest of another bird to lay eggs in based on which species raised them as a nestling? In other words, if a cowbird is raised as a chick by a red-winged blackbird ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract ABSTRACT Several species of avian brood parasites have evolved egg mimicry, which can interfere with host egg rejection. Parasitic egg mimicry ...

The birds in my Decatur yard usually give me joy, but the other morning a couple of birds hanging out at the feeders made me wince. They were brown-headed cowbirds, which, during the nesting season, ...