I've heard about Cowbirds laying their eggs in other bird's nests, but had never observed the results before.....until yesterday!
Cowbird "baby" and Chipping Sparrow!
"Are you my mother?"
"I'm hungry!"
Kind of cute when not begging
"Feed me!!!!!"
"Ah, shucks.....I'm just a big baby"
"Oh, good, Mom.......more!"
I thought the mother Chipping Sparrow looked a little leery everytime it gave the big baby some food.
"I'll wait here.....come back with more food soon!"
Cowbird "baby" and Chipping Sparrow!
"Are you my mother?"
"I'm hungry!"
Kind of cute when not begging
"Feed me!!!!!"
"Ah, shucks.....I'm just a big baby"
"Oh, good, Mom.......more!"I thought the mother Chipping Sparrow looked a little leery everytime it gave the big baby some food.
"I'll wait here.....come back with more food soon!"
%2B(2).jpg)
15 comments:
Ha! Silly big fat baby cowbirds! Poor Mrs. Sparrow, working so hard to feed that kid. She's a good surrogate mother it seems.
Great shots Mary.
Well---that is a cute baby Cowbird, Mary... That Chipping Sparrow was a nice birdie --willing to feed that big baby....
Cute post. Hope you have a wonderful 4th.
Hugs,
Betsy
Great shots of this odd quirk of nature! I think that's whay I don't like Cow Birds.
I have heard of this but never saw the actually thing happening!!! It sure is comical...but she is a good Mom...hope she can bring enough food to keep up with that fellow.....some good stuff there!!!
We have similar here in UK Mary but we call ours the cuckoo (because of the call it makes). I have never seen one. Poor Mrs S. A x
Great post Mary. I kind of feel sorry for the hated Cowbird. Like lots of other species it is only doing what it must to survive. Trouble is, it doesn't just pick birds that are abundant, but also birds like the Kirtland's Warbler!
Thanks everyone....it was rather comical to see such a big baby and such a small mother. I've never understood why the Cowbird does this, but it sure is interesting to see the results.
That's funny! Loved the shots of it. I knew of that too but had never seen it in action myself either. A few days ago I posted in my photos from Apr. 10th a big baby Starling being raised in a family of cowbirds. They visited me all spring. They were a funny bird family to watch. The "baby" Starling was so much bigger than the Momma Cowbird. But not as drastic of size difference as your Cowbird & momma sparrow. LOL Too cute!
Debbie: I just came from your blog and reading about your funny family. I didn't know you had been to mind yet :-)
I wonder what the sparrow think having a baby three times it size? :) Very cute Mary.
Mary: It is a funny site for certain.
Joan: I wondered about the same thing. Surely once it starts to grow the mother realizes that she's been tricked!
Tom: I hope the poor Chipping Sparrow mother had at least one normal baby, but the cowbirds probably pushed other eggs out of the nest.
Oh my goodness, that is precious Mary. A once in a lifetime shot! I've never seen the result of this before. Perfect images.
B.
Seeing this cowbird baby is a first for me, too!
Post a Comment