Female brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) singing at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge near New York City. (Credit: Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA 4.0) Brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater, are fascinating ...

Those are the first lines of a song written in 1979 by Bill Staines, once a regular on Garrison Keillor's radio show. The brown-headed cowbird, our resident cowbird, does have a place in the choir, ...

Many species of birds get reputations of various sorts. One species that gets a bad rap, through no fault of its own, is the brown-headed cowbird. The female cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of ...

Brown-headed cowbirds are plain Janes in the birding world, brown on brown. They don't look like much, but cowbirds are nonetheless impressive. They found a clever solution to a serious problem. Once ...

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are brood parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of host species. Cowbird chicks typically grow up in mixed broods consisting of one or more cowbird chicks ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- This week's bird is the Brown-headed Cowbird. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stockier blackbird. Males have a glossy black body with a brown head, which can appear black in ...

Brown-headed cowbirds are hard to love. They aren’t pretty or melodious. And worst of all, they’re deadbeat parents, tricking other birds into rearing their young. Many people regard them as villains.

Bronzed cowbirds often lay their eggs in other birds’ nest. Brood parasites are some of the bird kingdom’s most notorious sneaks. They don’t rear their own young but instead pawn the task of child ...

Every spring I get reports from astonished readers describing a small bird feeding a much larger, obviously begging chick. Can you explain this, readers ask. The answer is “brood parasitism.” ...

Hard as it seems to believe, some people don't like birds, and some bird species are especially unpopular. Even among birders, it's hard to find affection for house sparrows and European starlings, ...