Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Brown-headed Cowbird

"The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods. Brown-headed Cowbird lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Recent genetic analyses have shown that most individual females specialize on one particular host species. Some birds, such as the Yellow Warbler, can recognize cowbird eggs but are too small to get the eggs out of their nests. Instead, they build a new nest over the top of the old one and hope cowbirds don’t come back. Some larger species puncture or grab cowbird eggs and throw them out of the nest. But the majority of hosts don’t recognize cowbird eggs at all." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/overview This evening, I have posted a dozen photos taken yesterday evening, 30 July 2019, on a birding walk in Fish Creek Park. The Black-crowned Night-Heron was the highlight for us. A few other species were seen, but many were distant and either I didn't bother to try and get photos, or else I have posted them just for the record. I rarely go on an evening walk, but yesterday evening was beautiful weather for walking, and, as always, it was nice to spend time with friends. Thanks, Anne B., for giving up your evening for us! Today, we are under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. We have a hot day tomorrow, 29C (to feel like 31C). With my place feeling like an oven, I might just have to make use of my car's air-conditioning. A drive also might help take my mind off a very painful toothache, caused by two teeth I had filled about a month ago. I hadn't had toothache for many, many years - now I remember what it's like. I have a dentist appointment on Friday.

Once again, I am up-to-date with my local photos, after going on a two-hour birding walk in Fish Creek Park yesterday evening, 18 June 2019. Maybe I can make a start on Day 9 of our South Texas birding trip back in March 2019. A total of 36 bird species were seen, though I missed many of these birds. The forecast was for rain, so I wasn't sure if we were going to get caught in a downpour. Instead, we enjoyed sunshine and a pleasant temperature. This morning, 19 June, it is only 10C (windchill 7C) and overcast, with an expected high of 12C. Wish we could send our rain further north, where there are various wildfires burning. As of right now, there are 6 fires out of control, 7 being held, and 9 under control.

I happened to notice this Brown-headed Cowbird male and three or four others, perched in a row. I'm not sure if tilting their head upwards is part of their mating behaviour, but it is typical of this species. "The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods." From AllAboutBIrds. "They get their name from their close association with grazing livestock (and formerly bison), which flush up insects for the birds to eat." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id In the afternoon of 12 June 2017, on the spur of the moment, I went for a short drive SW of the city. The sun was shining, but unfortunately it was windy most of the time. My main purpose was to check on a few of the Mountain Bluebirds, who are now busy as can be, collecting insects to feed to their hungry babies. I know this will soon be over and the young ones will have fledged, so I really must make myself visit them again, or it will be too late. I had also hoped that maybe one of the Great Gray Owls in the area might just be out hunting. No luck this time. Makes me even more grateful to have seen one during our May Species Count on 28 May 2017.

Today, 25 July 2016, I am going to be totally messed up as far as the time is concerned. Very late last night, I happened to see online that Flickr was being bought by Verizon. The very first thing that popped into my mind was the fact that I had not posted about 30 most recent photos and their descriptions to the ipernity website. Having absolutely no idea when the sale will be finalized and having no idea of what will happen to Flickr, I thought I had better simply stay up and get my photos saved on the other site - which turned out to be all night. By then, I reckoned I might as well upload today's 'daily three' to Flickr. Had breakfast and then fell asleep for maybe an hour or so, while watching the US political News on CNN. Now I'm not even sure what day I'm on, ha. And I desperately need sleep. I was so exhausted after two long days of driving on 18 and 20 July, that I stayed home for three days. Then, yesterday, 24 July, I went with a couple of friends to Bow Valley Provincial Park to see what birds were to be seen. Just made it back home (or rather, the gas station) from the meeting place across the city, without running completely out of gas! Only three of us turned up at the meeting place yesterday for the birding trip to Bow Valley Provincial Park. A fourth person met us out at the park. Fortunately, the other three are very good birders : ) The weather forecast was for a sunny day with a temperature of 28C in the afternoon. We followed the Flowing Waters trail after walking to the trailhead from the Willow Rock Campground. One of the first sightings we had was this juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird being fed its foster Dad, a much smaller bird, an American Redstart. "The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods." From AllAboutBIrds. "They get their name from their close association with grazing livestock (and formerly bison), which flush up insects for the birds to eat." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id From the Flowing Waters trail, we drove further into the park, to Many Springs trail, where we walked the loop. The wildflowers were not as colourful or abundant as they were on my last visit there. Lunch was eaten at our next stop - a relaxing spot down by the Bow River. Then, we called in at the final location, Middle Lake. It was hot and we had already done a lot of walking, so we just walked down to the edge of the lake. I will add our leader's list of bird species - many thanks for another enjoyable walk at Bow Valley Provincial Park, Andrew! I was happy to see a Northern Waterthrush and to get a tiny glimpse of the American Redstart, both in the forest along the Flowing Waters trail. Got a blurry shot of each bird, that I may still post on Flickr, just for the record. Andrew Hart eBird Checklist Summary for: Jul 24, 2016 Number of Checklists: 3 Number of Taxa: 26 Checklists included in this summary: (1): Bow Valley PP - Flowing Waters Trails Date: Jul 24, 2016, 8:35 AM (2): Bow Valley PP--Many Springs Trail Date: Jul 24, 2016, 11:15 AM (3): Whitefish Date: Jul 24, 2016, 12:45 PM 1 Common Merganser -- (3) 1 Bald Eagle -- (2) 7 Spotted Sandpiper -- (2),(3) 1 Ring-billed Gull -- (3) 106 California Gull -- (2),(3) 2 Willow Flycatcher -- (2) 1 Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher) -- (1) 2 American Crow -- (3) 5 Tree Swallow -- (2),(3) 4 Mountain Chickadee -- (1) 1 Boreal Chickadee -- (1) 4 Red-breasted Nuthatch -- (1) 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- (1),(2) 1 Swainson's Thrush -- (2) 4 American Robin -- (1),(2) 4 Cedar Waxwing -- (1),(2),(3) 2 Northern Waterthrush -- (1) 1 Orange-crowned Warbler -- (1) 1 Common Yellowthroat -- (1) 2 American Redstart -- (1) 1 Yellow Warbler -- (1) 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler -- (1) 2 Dark-eyed Junco -- (2) 1 White-throated Sparrow -- (2) 1 Red-winged Blackbird -- (2) 1 Brown-headed Cowbird -- (1) Plus Mallard, Goldeneye, Buffleheads, Ring-necked Duck.

Four days ago, on 20 June 2016, I went for a drive SW of the city again. This time, I was thrilled to bits to see two male Bobolinks and a female. I had driven backwards and forwards along the road where I had seen them a few days ago, with no luck. I gave up and, instead, spent some time photographing a beautiful pair of Mountain Bluebirds. After a while, I told myself it was time to leave the Bluebirds in peace and go and see if there was any sign of a Bobolink. I had literally climbed back into my car and pulled forward maybe six feet, when a bird flew to a fence post. It looked bigger than a Savannah Sparrow, so I was curious. Turned out to be a male Bobolink, who gave me the chance for a few quick shots before flying away. Unfortunately, the sun was in a really bad place. Time to go and photograph a Tree Swallow, female Red-winged Blackbird (with food in her beak for her babies) and a Snipe and then I returned to the pair of Bluebirds. This time, they had two brief visitors - a Brown-headed Cowbird, and a tiny Savannah Sparrow who insisted on trying to perch on the same fence post as the male Bluebird. It was kind of cute to see the two together. After a while, I decided it really was time to head for home. While crossing the road to my car, I spotted a bird perched on top of a tree way down the road and discovered it was a Bobolink again. It spent a bit of time flying around with another male and a female, eventually flying to a fence post. I had never seen a female before, but recognized it from various photos I had seen online a few days ago. Females are a lot smaller than the males and very different colouring. Three quick photos and it was gone. One of the males stayed on a fence post for a little while, but I was looking into the sun and the light was horrible. All three birds took off across the field and stayed down in the grass and I knew this would be a good time to tear myself away and head happily for home. Normally, I don't get out this often, but I know that it won't be long before all the birds I saw today will have left. Also, this was the first day of summer, so I really wanted to spend a few hours outdoors. Unfortunately, everything else is getting neglected. "The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods." From AllAboutBIrds. "They get their name from their close association with grazing livestock (and formerly bison), which flush up insects for the birds to eat." From AllAboutBirds. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/id

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.

I thought this was such a cute sight - a female Brown-headed Blackbird feeding just a few inches away from the big teeth of this horse. There were a number of these birds around the horses, seen while we were on the May Species Count - in fact, I seem to be seeing Brown-headed Blackbirds wherever I go at the moment. Sunday, 25 May 2014, was the annual May Species Count, and it went really well. There were seven people in my group and we travelled in two vehicles, covering a large area SW of Calgary and W of Priddis. The Count lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the weather was mostly clear but clouded up by noon, with a short shower while we were having lunch at Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. Heavy clouds for the rest of the day, calm, 9-18°C, with 88km travelled by car. 69 bird species were found, plus 15 White-tailed Deer and two Moose. Most species were seen from far away, but I did manage to get just a few photos of several of the species. A good day :) Thanks for driving Rob and myself, Phil! Much appreciated! Each year on this Count, a highlight is calling in to see the much sought-after Evening Grosbeaks at Barb Castell's acreage. They didn't let us down, and even gave us some chances to get a few photos. Feeder photos are not my favourite, but we were also able to catch them in the trees, too. After the Count ended, it was pointed out that we could return to the city by one of two different routes. If we had chosen the other route, we would have missed the other highlight of the day - a Great Gray Owl! It didn't stay around for long, as it was busy hunting, but we did manage to get a handful of shots. We also saw a Ring-necked Pheasant in a field, just within camera range. I will add the list (compiled by the Count leader, Gus Yaki), of the 69 bird species seen, for my own memory. It probably won't be of much interest to most of you : ) I should add that I didn't see every single one of these species. Canada Goose-60 ad/30 juv. Gadwall-3 Mallard-19 Blue-winged Teal-16 Cinnamon Teal-2 Northern Shoveler-10 Green-winged Teal-6 Redhead-2 Ring-necked Duck-9 Lesser Scaup-19 Bufflehead-10 Barrow's Goldeneye-2 Ruddy Duck-10 Ring-necked Pheasant-1 heard. Common Loon-1 Pied-billed Grebe-1 Great Blue Heron-1 Swainson's Hawk-1 Red-tailed Hawk-7 Sora-5 American Coot-6 Killdeer-3 Spotted Sandpiper-3 Wilson's Snipe-10 Wilson's Phalarope-5 Black Tern-22 Mourning Dove-1 Great Gray Owl-2 Red-naped Sapsucker-1 Downy Woodpecker-1 Northern Flicker-1 Western Wood-Pewee-2 Least Flycatcher-7 Eastern Phoebe-1 Eastern Kingbird-4 Warbling Vireo-1 Blue Jay-7 Black-billed Magpie-8 American Crow-7 Common Raven-6 Tree Swallow-213 Barn Swallow-4 Black-capped Chickadee-12 Mountain Chickadee-5 Boreal Chickadee-2 White-breasted Nuthatch-1 House Wren-7 Ruby-crowned Kinglet-5 Mountain Bluebird-24 American Robin-12 Gray Catbird-2 European Starling-7 Tennessee Warbler-6 Yellow Warbler-3 Northern Waterthrush-1 Chipping Sparrow-9 Clay-colored Sparrow-26 Savannah Sparrow-3 Song Sparrow-2 Dark-eyed Junco-3 Red-winged Blackbird-164 Brewer's Blackbird-11 Common Grackle-8 Brown-headed Cowbird-9 Baltimore Oriole-1 Purple Finch-2 American Goldfinch-1 Evening Grosbeak-15 House Sparrow-4 Red Squirrel-4 Richardson's Ground Squirrel-1 Columbian Ground Squirrel-1 Meadow Vole-1 White-tailed Deer-15 Moose-2

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!

Photographed on a walk in South Glenmore Park/Weaselhead on 7 June 2011. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a brood parasitic icterid - these words are from Wikipedia and new ones to me, lol! "'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

Photographed on yesterday morning's walk in South Glenmore Park. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a brood parasitic icterid - these words are from Wikipedia and new ones to me, lol! "'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 Today, Wednesday June 8th, the world is celebrating both World Oceans Day and Clean Air Day. We all need to do so much more to protect both these vital resources!

Four of us went for a walk at Clearwater Park this, morning - had only been there once, a long time ago. This is a relatively new park, off Highway 8, the road that goes from Sarcee Trail near Westhills shopping area, to the Bragg Creek Road. This young Brown-headed Cowbird posed for a while.

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.

This started out being a mystery bird on a walk on Sunday morning but one of the members later made an ID. Thanks, Tanya! This bird looks exactly like another photo I took of a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird recently, which also gave me a clue.