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Molothrus ater
Somehow a cowbird managed to deposit her egg in one of my bluebird boxes. Cowbird eggs require less incubation time and the cowbird chick, which is larger than bluebird chicks, will hatch first. It then competes for food with the bluebird babies. Oddly, when I checked the box after about 12 days, after seeing Mama Bluebird fly away, I found only the cowbird chick and the bluebird eggs weren’t even there anymore. I saw no bluebird eggs on the ground or pieces of shell in the box, so this is a mystery for me.
My yard
Photos taken between 23 June and 5 July. The baby cowbird left the nest yesterday.
Spotted on Jun 23, 2013
Submitted on Jul 7, 2013
2 Comments
That's an idea, Mauna, but I don't think that happens. The cowbirds just abandon their eggs after laying them so the other species of bird will raise their babies. And the cowbird is much too large to fit into the bluebird box; I was imagining the cowbird balancing on the outside of the box to deposit the egg through the small opening. I would have loved to see how mama cowbird accomplished it.
Maybe the mama cowbird came back and ate the bluebird eggs?