Brown Headed Cowbird

Oh, and on a side note I created two missions if you are interested, Wildlife of DELMARPA and Hummingbird Heaven :o)

and there were quite a few females in the area along with other males, their songs were different than the other times I would hear them.

Oh that is awesome! I have only seen a handful so far in the last 2 weeks but they are gorgeous. I did alot of reading on them myself because I was curious of how they got their name and the brood parasitism was very interesting to me.

I rescued a female Brown-headed Cowbird as a days old hatchling, and it has grown to be one of the most amazing and inteligent birds I've ever encountered. Most people look at this picture and see a boring every day black bird - I see a awesome creature that brings me a lot of inspiration. Great shot, and cool observation. This individual is a Male, and the behaviour you encountered may be a mating display.

Brown-headed Cowbirds were limited to the open grasslands in the central United States where they followed migratory bison herds in search of food. Deforestation and agricultural development due to European settlement allowed the population to grow and spread rapidly. Brown-headed Cowbirds lay their eggs exclusively in other species' nests - females never build a nest or take care of their own young. This behaviour is known as Brood Parasitism, and though the female cowbird doesn't take care of her egg, she returns to the paristised nest from time to time to ensure her egg is being cared for by the host parent. If the host parent rejects the Cowbird egg or hatching, female Brown-headed Cowbids have been known to destroy the eggs and nest in retailiation. Brood Parasitic behaviour is perhaps an evolutionary response to their naturally nomadic lifestyle of following grazing mammals for long distances - thus not allowing them to care for a nest.

They're a pretty cool species.

Brown-headed cowbird