This bronzed cowbird is at the very edge of its range, only rarely seen in our area. The egg was laid in the nest of this daddy cardinal, who is probably wondering why this baby is so much bigger, and sticking around longer, than its more cardinal-looking siblings. The cowbird is very insistent!The cardinal worked hard to keep the cowbird happy.
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Jennycomments:
This is amazing! Do you have any idea where the nest is? Do you know if the other babies usually survive?
I have no idea where the nest is–I’m super bad at locating them. Rosemary says that the cowbirds take resources from the other babies so there is an impact; this Audobon article was helpful to understand how to think about such parasitism: https://www.audubon.org/news/is-it-okay-remove-cowbird-eggs-host-nests
Jenny comments:
This is amazing! Do you have any idea where the nest is? Do you know if the other babies usually survive?
Jon comments:
Wow!
Julie comments:
I have no idea where the nest is–I’m super bad at locating them. Rosemary says that the cowbirds take resources from the other babies so there is an impact; this Audobon article was helpful to understand how to think about such parasitism: https://www.audubon.org/news/is-it-okay-remove-cowbird-eggs-host-nests