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<\/p>\nIt isn’t easy to watch as parasitic fledgling cowbirds run their adopted Song Sparrow parents ragged as they relentlessly follow the sparrows around and beg for food.<\/p>\n
For the past several weeks at one of my favorite birding spots in the mountains fledgling cowbirds begging for food from their host species parents has been a very common occurrence. At this location the host species has nearly always been Song Sparrows.<\/p>\n
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These first three photos were taken three days ago in rare moments when the young cowbirds weren’t hounding their adoptive parents for food. Most of the time the cowbird fledglings would follow the Song Sparrow adult everywhere it went and they were relentless about begging for food, to the point that I had great sympathy for the sparrow who had to be exhausted.<\/p>\n
Here it may look like it’s the sparrow doing the begging but that’s not the case – it was just turning on its perch.<\/p>\n
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The sparrow turned its back on the young cowbird who seemed to sense that there would be no food for the time being so it briefly relented in its begging.<\/p>\n
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Given the situation I have no idea what this poor Song Sparrow had to sing about. Perhaps it was singing the blues.<\/p>\n
The very next day and at the same location where these first three photos were taken I documented (poorly) the ultimate source of cowbird parasitism.<\/p>\n
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Cowbird sex.<\/p>\n
I noticed the female on top of the tree displaying solicitation behavior so I fired a burst in hopes I’d get the male coming in to mate with her. This is the best photo I managed to get, the actual mating shots didn’t turn out well at all.<\/p>\n
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Brown-headed Cowbird brood parasitism:<\/p>\n
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When I photographed the mating cowbirds I tried to look at the bright side. If cowbirds are still mating in the latter part of July it suggests that their host species, various kinds of songbirds, are still in the early stages of a reproduction cycle too.<\/p>\n
For all of us who love birds that’s a good thing.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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Note: I’ve taken many photos of fledgling cowbirds actually chasing Song Sparrows and begging for food at this location. But the birds have usually been far away on the muddy streambank and because of depth of field issues at least one of them has typically been soft so I haven’t included any of those photos today.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It isn’t easy to watch as parasitic fledgling cowbirds run their adopted Song Sparrow parents ragged as they relentlessly follow the sparrows around and beg for food.<\/p>\n