One of the 2 thrushes on WAnimals
Birds · Passeriformes · Icteridae
Brown-headed Cowbird
Molothrus ater
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary
The brown-headed cowbird — known in Spanish as tordo cabecicafé, tordo cabecipardo, tordo negro, tordo negro común, tordo cabeza marrón, tordo cabeza café, tordo cuco, vaquero cabecicafé, vaquero de cabeza castaña or boyero negro — is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae native to North America. It is a partially migratory bird that lives in the temperate and subtropical regions of North America. It is resident in the southern part of its range, while northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter and return to their summer range in March or April. It is an abundant and widely distributed species, gregarious in behaviour, that feeds mainly on seeds and arthropods.
Weight
30 g – 60 g
Size
16 cm – 22 cm
Lifespan
16 years
Diet
Herbivore
Feeds mainly on plants.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
In pairs
Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Fun facts
- reproducciónLike the European cuckoo, it lays its eggs in other birds' nests to be incubated and reared by foster parents, and builds no nest of its own.
- It is a brood parasite of more than 220 different species, the widest repertoire known in any bird: a single female can lay more than thirty eggs in a season, spread among other birds' nests.
- It used to follow the bison herds across the prairies, eating the insects they flushed: that wandering life made tending a nest impossible, and brood parasitism was the answer.
- The chicks do not learn the song of their foster parents: they recognise their own kind through an innate password call that sends them looking for other cowbirds once they are independent.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
- Habitat & environment
- Grassland, woodland edges, pasture with livestock and farmed areas of North America
- Birth weight
- Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent
- Size at birth
- Born altricial in the nest of another species, which raises it as its own
- Sexual maturity
- 12 months
- Gestation / incubation
- 11 days
- Litter / clutch size
- 1 egg
Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-headed_cowbird
Where to find it
See its range on the interactive mapBest time: From April to July in North America, when the females watch the nests of other birds in which they will lay their eggs.
Where to watch it
Parques y spots de buceo donde se ha documentado esta especie — se muestran 10 de 41 documentados.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Brown-headed Cowbird — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Great-tailed Grackle
Quiscalus mexicanus
Baltimore Oriole
Icterus galbula
Red-Winged Blackbird
Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark
Sturnella magna
Least ConcernBald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Canada Goose
Branta canadensis
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