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Project Noah Nature School
Molothrus ater
Cowbird egg in a robin's nest. The cowbird egg is at the top of the photo. Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds who raise the cowbird chicks.
I took this photo last year, the nest is in an apple tree at the Purdue orchard.
brood parasite
Spotted on Jun 10, 2010
Submitted on Jun 4, 2011
5 Comments
We get lots of them here too. They try & squeeze through the holes in the bluebird boxes but thankfully they don't manage to fit through. I did find a cowbird egg in a titmouse nest recently though http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/708...
Good picture! Nice contrast between the two eggs. It's probably wrong of me, but I hate cowbirds. They always come and hang around while the Bullock's Orioles are nesting here. Luckily, Bullock's Orioles are one of the few birds who spot the cowbird eggs then puncture them and discard them from the nest.
Thanks for showing us!
thanks for the confirmation Liam
Yes, the brown egg is definitely a cowbird egg.