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Project Noah Nature School
Junco hyemalis
One of the many visitors to our bird feeder on Salt Spring Island. (Adult junco feeding juvenile cowbird - brood parasitism)
The two photos were taken about 4 weeks apart
Spotted on Jun 28, 2010
Submitted on Jan 15, 2013
34 Comments (1–25)
Great capture of this interesting behavior!
Congrats Ron!
Congratulations!
Great cache Ron,congrats on the SOTD,thanks for sharing
Congratulations on your SOTD Ron!
Congrats on your spotting of the day!
Congrats Ron
Reiko ,nature can be tough.
Congrats on the SotD !
Thanks for the kudos and all the informative comments!
Reiko, the behavior is instinctive among brood parasites such as cowbirds & cuckoos. It is thought that cowbirds became parasites because of their nomadic lifestyle following the enormous herds of American bison that inhabited North America in the days before human settlement.
Congrats On the SOTD .... Well deserved Indeed Excellent shot!
Congratulations, Ron.
Congrats on SOTD!
KarenL - Thank you very much for your further explanation. It is not nice that "The cowbird chick uses its large size to push the other chicks out of the nest, allowing it to benefit from the undivided attention of its unwitting foster parents" How do they learn such manner when they are so young?. :-(
Congratulations on earning the SOTD for this lovely spot!
Congratulations
Congrats Ron!
congrats !
This is a brilliant moment, well done on capturing it!
Congratulations Ron!!
nice spotting !! Congratulations :)
Congratulations, Ron, on spotting of the day!
Congratulations Ron, this fascinating capture has earned you spotting of the day!
The cowbird is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds. The cowbird chick uses its large size to push the other chicks out of the nest, allowing it to benefit from the undivided attention of its unwitting foster parents.
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Nice spot!