TROPIC and NEAR-TROPIC BIRD COLLECTION

Cow Bird Affection Cow Birds- Molothrus ater Brown-headed Cowbird- Molothrus ater, Order PASSERIFORMES - Family ICTERIDAE. Some people are disgusted by cowbirds, but I find them to be very interesting, at least from an evolutionary perspective. What makes them unusual is...."The Brown-headed Cowbird is the only brood parasite common across North America. A female cowbird makes no nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the young cowbirds. Most females specialize on one particular host species." These cowbirds were found in the Brookville Reservoir area in extreme western Indiana near the Ohio border. (Photo: April 17, 2004, Canon 10D, EF 400mm f/5.6L IS USM, 1.4x teleconverter EF ll lens ) For More Info: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Brown-headed_Cowbird.html

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Photos Copyright R. Hays Cummins. Authorization required. For permission, contact hays@environment-education-press.org

Sources of species identification and other amazing info include (1) Cornell Lab of Ornithology--a fantastic site; (2)Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Peterson Field Guide Series, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company; (3) The National Audubon Society's Sibley Guide to Birds and (4) Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Third Edition, National Geographic, Washington, D.C.