Brown Headed Cowbird Egg in Bluebird House - What to do? Here is what I did and how it turned out!
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- After years of being a Bluebird Landlord, this video documents my first experience having a Brown Headed Cowbird lay an egg in my Gilbertson Bluebird House. I am not saying this is the best thing to do, I am just showing what I did and how it turned out.
I’m late to the party. But I’m going to give my two cents on the matter. First off I’m a wildlife biologist, and thought I study a good number of wildlife species, I work primarily as an ornithologist (the study of wild birds), and I’ve actually work in a number of studies on brood parasitism and nest predation. By not removing the Cowbird egg/eggs (they usually return and lay anywhere from 2 to 4 eggs), you condemn the bluebird chicks to their death. Brown-headed Cowbird young will grow much more rapidly and much stronger much more quickly, and they outcompete the bluebird nestlings. The cowbird chicks consuming all the food brought back by the bluebird parents, leaving the bluebird chicks to starve.
Brood Parasitism has had a terrible effect on many of our song bird populations, Yellow Warbler, Wood Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler and many more... and as you now know Bluebirds have suffered greatly. Brood parasitism is one of the primary reasons why Bluebirds are a threatened species.
You'd be helping our song bird populations... especially the threaten species such as bluebirds, by destroying cowbird eggs in the future.
Best wishes,
George Silver Hawk
Suggestions to destroy cowbird's eggs is very strange 'cause, to the best of my knowledge, if you remove the cowbird's egg then the parent cowbird returns to the nest and destroys the host bird's eggs. I've seen Finches raising a cowbird baby along with three of their own and they all survived. Finch parents seem to be smart enough to know they have to feed the little chick's too despite the bigger cowbird chick's aggressively asking and trying to get the food.
@@ABCDEF-os5or - not true. USGS Breeding Surveys have not found this to be the cast. The parent Cowbirds would return anyway and lay as many as 7 eggs. If they find the next crowded, they remove the blue bird eggs to make room for their eggs. We also find that they prefer to leave two to three of the host's eggs. Good Blue Bird Nesting Boxes are made to monitor to allow this. In fact, the North American Bluebird Society requires this feature before they certify a blue bird nesting box for this reason. The nesting box must be monitored, and cowbird eggs or young removed. If the cowbird chick are left, they'll out compete the blue bird nestlings for food and the blue bird nestling will die.
@@NikonPhotoHawk I have 11 bluebird nesting houses. I have been seeing cowbirds lately, I have until now left them on their own and watch the bluebird babies leave home before messing with the nest. My cowbird female has 3 dudes. I’m not likeing those odds
Why should songbirds get preferential treatment? Because *you* like their sounds?
@@himhim3344 get that bullshit outta here, you clearly cant argue with facts
I would not have hesitated to remove that cowbird's egg. I did not know that cowbirds would enter a nesting cavity to lay their eggs. We have lots of cowbirds hanging around my yard now, waiting for an opportunity to do their dastardly deed. I am going out to check my bluebird nest right now.
Just saying, that cowbird might come back and destroy the nest if you take it out (that is what happened to the house finch nest outside my house)
@@carrotlol 😮
You shouldn't take eggs out of a nest. That's actually against the law. Let nature take its course 🙏
The other birds might actually survive, it’s not like the cowbird can push it out, it just steals their food
@@moisesmontecillo7570 I AM part of nature.
Great video. Precise and too the point. Thank you! I enjoyed the way you documented this.
That looks like a half eaten bug's abdomen?
Cockroach or something yeah
Yeaaa looks like a bug butt
Even if the cowbird egg hatched, it would not have been able to remove the other eggs or chick. The way the nest sits inside that pipe is the perfect solution. Mother bird will raise both her and foster chick together.
The cowbird chicks usually still try and kill the other chicks.
Are you sure about that? I know the Honeyguide will do this but I don't think that the cowbird will do it.@@jakzine540
The cowbird chicks grow faster and eat more. 8/10 times, the Bluebird chicks will starve because Mom can’t keep up with feeding.
Bluebirds aint stupid, they will attack and kill cowbirds if they can nd definitely remove the eggs. Thats why the egg was gone the last time you checked it. Saw another video where the momma bluebird was whooping this cowbirds ass that she cuaght in the nest laying its egg lol. The owner removed the cow bird, but let the egg stay.
The bluebirds wrecked the egg fterwards. Unfortunately a snake found its way into the nest, nd ate the remaining blu bird eggs.
😂😂 I seen that video.
I saw it too she left that cowbird trying to find the exit 😂
Those video took me to this video 😂
As a native species cowbirds are protected. However, they have multiplied and expanded their range due to forest fragmentation and elimination. Humans have altered the landscape, so that songbirds are way more vulnerable to cowbirds. I would be tempted to remove the cowbird egg, but I was not aware of them repeatedly replacing it. I wonder if you could just damage it so that it doesn't hatch.
Great idea!!
This is a big brain comment. Destroyed egg will make the cowbird neutral to the situation
You can freeze the egg so that the embryo dies and then return it to the nest. Assuring that the cowbird won’t replace it and also making sure nothing hatches from the egg since it didn’t developed.
I just put a needle thru dat b1tch and no one ever know
My bluebirds are repairing their nest from which they have raised two broods this year. The nest needs repairing as I threw part of it out due to being soiled with the last broods bird poop. I looked out this morning and saw a female brown head on the top of the nest. I am going to monitor it closely to see what happens. 6/23/21
Keep us posted on what happens, thanks for watching the video.
Interesting! That's just part of a bug. After many years of bluebirding I've only had that happen once, and I took out the cowbird egg. It sure looks like a baby bluebird but wonder if that is a baby cowbird, it has all the baby bluebird markings though. I have heard that bluebirds might remove the cowbird egg.
What you have is the casing from a blow fly pupae after it left.
Did you make your bluebird house or buy it. I like the design. Thanks
Honestly it has been the best bluebird house I have ever used. The birds pick it over my other ones. I got it on Amazon: amzn.to/3Mi80bR
Maybe you should have left the egg there but given it shake or done something to make sure it didn't hatch.
Freeze it for a few hours, or boil it for a while to stop the growth, then return it.
This guy could use a camera system for his nesting box.
I have tried. Unfortunately I have found all of them are too big for me the use in the house :(.
@@JUMBLE2015
I think you still did a great job!! Thank you for sharing.
I wouldn't take the egg out since the cowbird would just replace it if its still near by, I'll just wait for it to hatch and just kill it then
An even better idea!!
You can just take the egg, put it in the freezer for a couple hours and return it to the nest. That way if the cowbird comes back to check it's a dead egg and they will never know.
or just puncture it with a needle, turn it upside down and the egg will never make anything of it and that dumb ho will never know one of her kitz is mia
@ George silver hawk this is similar to what the cuckoo bird does. Only exception is the cuckoo chick ejects the eggs or host chicks out of the nest. Should we remove those? They basically killing the bird population slowly
Thats why theyre protected.
If I can differentiate between a cuckoo and cowbird egg I will immediately "make unhatchable"; drop in boiling water for at least 15 seconds, let cool and return it (them).
Karen’s: it’s illegal to take it out..,
Gold wolf: suck it LeBitch 😂😂😂, I’m having me a cowbird egg omelet
I found a cowbird egg in my Eastern Phoebe nest. I removed it.
Nice work i am with you and i am not saying that cowbirds and cuckoos are bad i am worried about the host chicks and the parents
actually removing the egg is bad because birds like the cuckoo have this mafia like thing where if the egg gets removed they will destroy the nest
@@Gam1ngM3nace I hear ya. This is good timing because I have a brand new eastern phoebe nest under my deck as every year. And I've seen cowbirds around. What if i did something sinister to the egg and just left it there? I was thinkin maybe a proton laser or something. 🤣
I have a couple bluebirds nesting in my birdhouse and I have brown-headed cowbirds around. Had considered using a pin to poke a hole in a brown-headed cowbird egg if one appears in the nest and leave it there so it won’t hatch but won’t be obvious that something happened to it. If it is legal to abort a human embryo I don’t see why it shouldn’t be legal to abort a parasite bird’s embryo.
@@ryandurchholz963 like wrote the birds will destroy the nest if the bird aborts the egg
Cowbird damage the bluebird when it lay the egg. There's a vid about it. Parasitism is a way of survival.
link of cowbird damaging bluebirb ?
@@zulfiqaralishaheen7760 ruclips.net/video/vFpoBIgnOnc/видео.html
The one egg found outside was likely done intentionally. The other two were likely done inadvertently while the cowbird was laying her egg.
Where is the mother Bluebird???
Obviously she's been around because the baby wouldn't have survived otherwise. You didn't expect him to try and check the nest while she was around did you?
Think the blue bird mother peck the cow bird egg so it never hatch but didnt remove it so that when the cowbird came to check it just think it's egg is still hatching. However, I think thick egg shell of the cowbird egg may damaged the other 2 blue bird egg in the process of laying so they didnt hatch either. Basically battle of evolution at it's finest. Some blue bird would remove the cowbird egg and fend off the attack from mother cowbird afterward, while other just raise both of their chick and the parasite chick
if you see a cowbird in a natural nest here is something you could do take that egg out or let it hatch and sacrifice the other egg or hatchling because this bird is just gonna push them out the nest to die
Does anyone ever take the egg out and raise the cowbird as a pet?
Me
Can you tell me how to do this. I have 2 that's going to hatch and I'm curious about this.
How do you take care of them???
Time to fire up the grill. We are gonna have fried cowbirds for dinner tonight
I'm barely 1:38 into the video and I'm already upset that you chose to leave it. :(
It is illegal to remove it without a permit. See the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
@@Faithdced Be more practical, and you'll do more good for the species if you allow nature takes it own course.
@@rlou9265 "Stop being dumb" Says the dumb one. Why can't you at least try to be adult and respective? My comment warranted no disrespect from anyone.
@@JUMBLE2015 if a tree falls in the forest ...... hmmmmm
@@JUMBLE2015
I mean no harm but no one would know you removed the cowbird egg or damaged it (I won't tell). I would in a second especially after finding a blue bird egg on the ground destroyed. However, I liked your clip and hope you upload more. :)
If you did take it out, how would the cops find out? You don't think they have more important things to do? I'm not going to tell. Idk what you are going to do but I hope you remove it because if you don't, it will most likely kill the remaining 3. But when this happens, in some places in Africa, the bird allows it because the parasite egg will hatch first and most likely get attacked by the not fly and kill it, and by letting that happen, the other birds won't get attacked and will live. But I'm guessing you're not in a place where bot flies are common
Be weary of removing the cowbird eggs, sometimes the cowbird will notice and return to destroy the remaining eggs and nest. "Mafia hypothesis"
That's a myth
@@brandonwang4270 i tried to post sauce but youtube is weird about links. Google mafia hypothesis cowbird and theres a research article from PNAS on it. 1. "When cowbird access was allowed, 56% of 'ejector' nests were depredated compared with only 6% of 'accepter' nests. " No nests were destroyed when cowbird access was always denied or when access was denied after we removed cowbird eggs, indicating that cowbirds were responsible. 2. Cowbirds parasitized most (85%) renests of the hosts whose nests were depredated. 'Ejector' nests produced 60% fewer host offspring than 'accepter' nests because of the predatory behavior attributed to cowbirds."
@@strawberrymilkshake9074
BS
The baby cowbird kills the other baby birds anyway. Lol
@@janicem9225 your thinking of a cuckoo they push them out of nest. But baby cowbirds take up a lot of food so i guess they can indirectly kill them
@@brandonwang4270 some myth... ruclips.net/video/Hq78EmR-6o0/видео.html
throw it away
Take that cowbird egg and do your best Nolan Ryan impersonation
I never realized how much the cowbird is hated 😮almost as much as the grackles.. crazy.
I can’t hate anything furry or feathery or scale-y unless it’s human. Then it’s debatable.
I love grackles!! They're soooo cute with their bright eyes :)
I've monitored several nests over the years where cowbird laid an egg in the nest -- bluebirds, red-eyed vireos, rose breasted grosbeaks, sparrows - in every case the cowbird killed/kicked the native species out of the nest before they could fledge. Just an observation.
Nature can be cruel.
I would have removed the Cowbird egg.
Unfrotunately that would have made it worse as brood parasite mothers are known to frequently return to the nests they laid their eggs in and if they notice their egg or chick is gone then they'll raid the entire nest and smash all the remaining eggs/kill the chicks
nest was screwed the second a cowbird decided to dump its egg in it. Better to destroy and rebuild elsewhere than raise a parasite.
@@dohickey7184 very few are known to do that
@@necromia7490I guess it's a good thing that only one egg hatched and it was a bluebird.
@@necromia7490who don't you people finish the video before commenting?
Looks like a bot fly larvae that died or the underside abdomen of a beetle.
That's what I was thinking but are bot flies common in Texas?
@@lynnleigha580 Yes,,bit fly larva that probably on the parent bird, fell off..
Yeah, look like a botfly that couldn't get out of the nest after falling off the chick and was killed by one of the birds.
I hope the bluebird mama did not feed that little bastard
Are you ok? It’s a bird and this is nature.
@@henritink100 Okaay the other bird killed it’s babies. Why would I want the mama bird to feed it. Make it make sense. Nature or not , cowbirds are assholes. Just because it’s nature, doesn’t mean I have to like it.
lollllllllllll
@@henritink100 We are part of nature.
Me too i would love to come over to that cow bird house and show her what a bad b1tch outta look like
I love all birds but brow heads are rude.
Cowbirds are a parasite.
Cowbirds are like trailer trash. They want the neighbors to take care of their kids.
They are typical democrats
People in the comments section "kill it"smash it" When they face the same situation awww... Baby cowbird
A lot of people are suggesting to remove the cowbird egg. But here's a video of what can happen. The cowbird mother will often monitor the nest to ensure it's chick's survival. If the egg is removed or the chick dies this is what can happen to the nest as a result ruclips.net/video/Hq78EmR-6o0/видео.html
Should keep an eye on it and shoot the cowbird mother when it returns
Still kill it.
Kill adult cowbirds too.
You guys are all so dark. The best thing to do is stay out of it and let nature run it's course.
@@katielyb But popping off the parasites is far more fun and satisfying.
In a nest like that I doubt the bird could kick the others out but why let one of those parasites hatch out to be the cause of other birds deaths when it reproduces. The thought of a whole nest being killed of for one bird is tragic with the declining bird populations. These types of birds should be eradicated for the sake of other bird species.
I think I’m going to remove it
Cowbirds are a plague.
Funfact: blue birds ar enot blue
@george sea hawk
I believe that was a cockroach abdomen
Trinston was here....
U seriously need to take the cow bird egg out!!!! Cow birds r predator birds like coco birds! And if u keep coming to the nest the mom won't come back because she smells you and the eggs need incubation
Even if the cow bird hatched late he'll still kill the others. Sometimes coco birds don't hatch first either.
That was not a blue bird. Learn coco birds and u understand all predator birds. Also predator mom birds, as u found that egg pecked outside the nest, the mother does that. They'll remove one egg to have place for theirs and sometimes eat it. Blue birds are blue, coco birds have eggs that blend in with others, that looks more like a coco to me. Omg, I firmly think that's a cocobird. They fully grow in 3 weeks and able to leave the nest. They eat the other birds, throw them out, and sometimes they don't. As you said he was remarkablely big to you for a quick time. That's a sign of a coco. I swear that bird looks like a coco to me, his wings have that stripe
So it's not illegal to take eggs from a nest of a bird, only turtles you can't touch their eggs but maybe there r laws on birds. But this is why I know not to touch eggs of a birds nest. Mom birds, all of them, DO NOT LIKE HUMANS, so even going around one, u're not suppose to touch it because u leave u human smell on it. The mom comes back, and smells her nest, they can abandon the nest thinking a human is taking care of it. It's best to watch mom take care of her nest from a far and use a telephoto lense on a camera. That's why I don't touch eggs in a birds nest. When the mom abandons a nest the birds can die for many reasons. And I believe cocobirds eggs don't need incubation. It makes sense to me s cowbird egg in there with a coco. Because of u have one predator in the area u have others of different species. There's no telling what king of bird it is they the egg, I mean u can, it's hard, sometimes u gotta see how it hatches, and I swear this looks like a cocobird to me. Could b wrong, but I can't stop saying that. I don't like predator birds. Let me check the video again, for it's eyes. I know that is not a blue bird. It's crazy how thru evolution, they realized they couldn't take care of their children, well lazy, and drop their kids off to another bird. To kill the family and when it gets big they sometimes can eat the foster mom that raised em. His eyes. He's a coco. Cocos are smart and kill other birds they know will be a threat to them later. If eggs in the nest don't hatch, and they don't seem like a threat they'll leave em alone cuz they're basically dead. They never hatched. All I know is I can for sure say that is NOT a blue bird.
That's a myth. Birds don't abandon their nest, or their chicks if humans touch them. Their sense of smell isn't good enough to know that.
Cowbirds and their eggs are protected under the migratory bird treaty act. So what you’re suggesting is actually illegal
Cuckoo birds are considered brood parasites and I for one absolutely hate the little bastards. I agree I don’t believe that was a bluebird, the pattern of its feathers, beak, and size. If I ever came across a situation like that I would simply place the egg somewhere else, like a hawks nest, eagle or crow, I’d love to see it try to push off those eggs or baby chicks or bully the host mom. Fine, fine. Chicken nest.. better learn how to walk fast.
You sure do write alot for not knowing what you're talking about. You're spreading long believed myths and things that are just not true.
Actually taking the egg out would cause the Cuckoo mother to raid the nest, they will monitor the nest to make sure their egg or chick isn't removed, and if it is she will become aggressive towards the nest
It's well known among birders that the Eastern Bluebird was nearly lost. Efforts to increase their numbers involve building boxes to assist them. We build them to HELP. Leaving a parasitic bird egg in their nest is mind-blowing and disappointing. Hopefully, you'll reconsider your actions and continue to help rather than harm these species. Quite frankly, I hope you never get the privilege of another Bluebird nest ever again.
You should read the law - www.fws.gov/story/bird-nests
Maybe read a little BEFORE opening your mouth?
...
Anyone else watching this and thinking "just leave the damn birds alone"?
No.
No
I also shoot cowbirds...hate em
I'm sure there's a purpose for them that we're unaware of. Just like spiders, flies and roaches. They may be disgusting but, they do all serve a purpose.
Why? What do they do thats so bad? I live in New York City so forgive my naïveté.