Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Cowbird

On 24 April 2016, I took and posted a photo of this same small, bare-branched tree/shrub with about 50 Tree Swallows perched on the branches. On 15 May 2016, I was back at the same spot and saw several of these Brown-headed Cowbirds perched there instead. Four of the birds (male and female) were doing what Cowbirds do - stand with their heads pointed upwards. I have added an old, previously-posted photo of a small Clay-coloured Sparrow feeding/raising a large baby Brown-headed Cowbird, in a comment box below. An article from 10 September 2015 states that research shows that female Cowbirds "return to take a look-see. This way the female cowbirds can assess which host nests were most successful, and avoid laying future eggs in those that failed." From NatureWorldNews. www.natureworldnews.com/articles/16586/20150910/female-co... "'Brood parasitic' means that it lays its eggs in the nests of other small passerines (perching birds), particularly those that build cup-like nests. The Brown-headed Cowbird eggs have been documented in nests of at least 220 host species, including hummingbirds and raptors. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. Brown-headed Cowbird females can lay 36 eggs in a season. More than 140 different species of birds are known to have raised young cowbirds." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-headed_Cowbird Will add the report and final list of 63 species, compiled by our leader, Howard Heffler. As usual, I didn't see some of the species, as I don't use binoculars and most birds were very, very distant. Thanks so much for a great day, Howard, and thanks so much for the ride, Andrew! Both much appreciated. "Fourteen participants showed up by 8:30 AM at Anderson LRT and we car pooled in four vehicles to Basin #1 at Frank Lake. From the entrance parking lot we had good views of two Short-eared Owls hunting over the marsh. They are such beautiful flyers. We drove to the outfall and walked to the blind and back. We then drove to Basin #2 where we lucked into a couple of distant White-winged Scoters. An Eastern Kingbird was a first-of-year for me. Next was Brant Lake where the highlight was Black-bellied Plovers. It was (relatively) warm and sunny all day with a bit of wind in the afternoon. Thanks to the regulars and to the newbies for coming out. And thanks to Andrew Hart for eBird listing. Snow Goose 1 Canada Goose 195 Trumpeter Swan 1 Tundra Swan 4 Gadwall 144 American Wigeon 6 Mallard 300 Blue-winged Teal 4 Cinnamon Teal 3 Northern Shoveler 267 Canvasback 1 Redhead 24 Ring-necked Duck 2 Lesser Scaup 140 White-winged Scoter 2 Bufflehead 8 Ruddy Duck 290 Red-necked Grebe 4 Eared Grebe 230 Western Grebe 17 Double-crested Cormorant 25 American White Pelican 64 Great Blue Heron 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron 5 White-faced Ibis 13 Northern Harrier 2 Swainson's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Sora 2 American Coot 500 Black-necked Stilt 1 American Avocet 16 Black-bellied Plover 2 Killdeer 3 Spotted Sandpiper 4 Willet 10 Marbled Godwit 8 Wilson's Snipe 2 Wilson's Phalarope 1 Franklin's Gull 1022 California Gull 185 Black Tern 1 Common Tern 3 Forster's Tern 16 Rock Pigeon 2 Short-eared Owl 3 Merlin 1 Eastern Kingbird 1 Black-billed Magpie 4 Common Raven 1 Tree Swallow 20 Marsh Wren 1 European Starling 10 American Pipit 2 Clay-colored Sparrow 4 Vesper Sparrow 2 Savannah Sparrow 16 Red-winged Blackbird 72 Western Meadowlark 4 Yellow-headed Blackbird 280 Brewer's Blackbird 8 Brown-headed Cowbird 9 House Sparrow 1 Howard Heffler"

Almost 3:00 pm and there are only 8 new photos on My Contacts page. Nothing new in 5 or 6 hours, which is most unusual. Wonder if there is a problem with Flickr, or if people just aren't posting. Update on my daughter, 24 August 2015: she is still waiting to find out if she will need surgery. Still feeling a lot better, but no doubt getting more and more bored by the minute : ) She knows quite a few of the staff at the hospital, and they pop in to see her, or she drags her IV stand to go and see them, which all helps. I'm not 100% sure that my ID is correct. If anyone sees that I'm wrong, please do let me know - thanks! On 6 July 2015, the weather forecast looked good for the High River area, SE of Calgary. However, when I got there, the sky was overcast, the distant Rocky Mountains had completely disappeared, and the light was not good for taking photos. For some reason, all the birds, including the Ibis near the blind at Frank Lake, were unusually active, which didn't help! Except for these two young Brown-headed Cowbirds. They were standing on one of the rocks that line the edges of the rough road between the gate and the blind, and stayed long enough for me to get a couple of shots. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a brood parasitic icterid, which means that they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species. ""'Brood parasitic' means that it lays its eggs in the nests of other small passerines (perching birds), particularly those that build cup-like nests. The Brown-headed Cowbird eggs have been documented in nests of at least 220 host species, including hummingbirds and raptors. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. Brown-headed Cowbird females can lay 36 eggs in a season. More than 140 different species of birds are known to have raised young cowbirds." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-headed_Cowbird There were three things that I thought I would try and photograph - yellow Canola fields, any kind of bird sitting on a fence post with Canola behind it, and an Eared Grebe with young ones on her back. Managed the first two, but there was just the one Grebe near the blind but too far to photograph when she had a single baby on her back. Luckily, a little Savannah Sparrow decided to land on a fence post at the edge of the road. I always love the way their yellow "eyebrows" match the colour of the Canola bokeh. I was also lucky to find several close White-faced Ibis at a slough NE of Frank Lake. So, just a short trip, but an enjoyable one.

Just a young Brown-headed Cowbird seen at a picnic spot along the Akamina Parkway in Waterton Lakes National Park, on 18 July 2015. If I have the wrong ID, please let me know : ) To have the chance to visit Waterton Lakes National Park in June was such an absolute treat, but to be able to visit this beautiful region again one month later was just incredible. I think I've only ever been maybe five or so times in the 37 years that I've lived here, so you can imagine my delight to get two chances in one year!! Actually, I signed up for the July trip (17-19 July) a while ago and, though there were some aspects of the three-day trip that I wasn't particularly keen on, I knew this was a wonderful chance to go down south. Then, some time later, friend Sandy asked if I wanted to go down to Waterton in June for the Botany Alberta weekend. So, lucky, lucky me!! It was wonderful to again be surrounded by such magnificent scenery, go on a few pleasantly slow walks with plenty of time to look for, and photograph, wildflowers, insects, and a few birds. Lots of great company with people I already knew and lots of new faces, too. The trip was organized by Nature Calgary. Everyone was free to go wherever they wanted each day, but for the two nights, we stayed at the very basic Canyon Church Camp, off the Red Rock Parkway. Dorm-style cabins (about which I will say nothing, lol!), but they do have showers and even flush toilets at the camp. We were fed so well - lots of variety and good food. We were given two breakfasts and two suppers, plus a packed lunch for the two days. Our thanks go out to the lady (can't remember her name, sorry) who cooked and prepared these meals for us! They were so much enjoyed and greatly appreciated! Our first day, which included the drive from Calgary, it rained all day long. Thankfully, the remaining two days were beautiful and sunny, and appreciated even more because of the first rainy day. The first day, we drove around Waterton town, calling in at Cameron Falls and then driving to Red Rock Canyon. We did the short walk along both sides of the canyon, in the rain, so it was pretty much useless as far as taking photos was concerned. I was happy to see a Swainson's Thrush there, the first time I had seen one close. On the second day, 18 July, we went to Cameron Lake. This is a beautiful lake and I love the small jetty and the colourful canoes lined up. Our walk took us along the right hand side of the lake, through the forest. One of my favourite plants that we saw there was Water Hemlock - though I had seen it before, I had never seen it this close and in such detail. The bees and other insects love it, too, with several insects on many of the flower heads. This attractive plant is one of the most deadly poisonous plants in North America. Two other plants that I was thrilled to see were Pink Monkeyflower and Yellow Monkeyflower. I had never seen these wildflowers before. Pearly Everlasting, False Helebore, Fringed Grass-of-Parnassus, Foam Flower, and Thimbleberry were just a few of the other plants we found. We were amazed at how many orchids there were - everywhere. Later on the second day, we called in at Red Rock Canyon again and, because it was absolutely packed with people, we decided to do the nearby Blakiston Falls Trail. Along this trail, I was thrilled to see a few Pinedrops plants in flower - I had only ever seen them once before (at Cypress Hills), and they were in seed. Thanks so much, Debbie, for the heads-up about these plants that you had found earlier! We also saw a couple of Prince's Pine plants along this trail - a first for me. They look rather like Pink Pyrola, so could easily be overlooked. Later, in the evening on this day, Andrew Hart took us to look at a wetland for Sandhill Cranes. He knew they can be seen there and, with the help of a spotting scope, he found a total of 5 seen from two lookouts. Barely visible with the naked eye, they were so far away. I just managed to get a 48x zoomed shot that was kind of fit to post : ) Andrew had also timed it so that we could drive along Chief Mountain Parkway afterwards, stop at the lookout and watch the sunset over the mountain peaks. The following morning, our last, some of us visited Cameron Lake again and then walked along the very short Akamina Lake trail (only 1 km return) that starts from the Cameron Lake parking lot. A beautiful little trail, where we found two Bear Grass plants still in flower, but well past their prime. Also watched a rather skinny deer making her way along the edge of the lake. A lovely walk to end our stay in Waterton Lakes National Park. Thanks so much, Darlene, for letting us do this, knowing that we needed to start driving north to Calgary. Thank you SO much, too, for driving three of us to and from Calgary and around the park some of the time, too. To say that we appreciated it is a huge understatement!! Our thanks, too, to Andrew for organizing this trip so brilliantly! A great time was had by all.

We saw this young Brown-headed Cowbird (?) being fed by a Sparrow (Clay-coloured?) on a walk in the rain this afternoon at Griffth Woods. Had to shoot into the sun and it's not as sharp - or as close, LOL - as I would have liked, but it was interesting to watch as this hard-worked Sparrow fed her huge, adopted baby! Hats off to these gullible small birds who accept the offspring of parents who lay their eggs in other birds' nests! Still haven't figured out how to adjust the colour and brightness on my monitor, so please bear with me if this photo appears too light or too dark. I know the right button to press, but then can't move in the direction of any arrows. At the moment, I can't tell what is what on my screen, which is frustrating, LOL!

Caught these three Brown-headed Cowbirds at Confluence Park, just as the sky had turned black and the first few raindrops were beginning to fall. They seem to often stretch their heads upwards like this, giving a slim look to the body. Cowbirds will lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and many of the latter will incubate the eggs as their own and then raise the young Cowbirds.