{"id":70937,"date":"2020-06-17T06:22:29","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70937"},"modified":"2024-05-14T15:39:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T20:39:47","slug":"female-brown-headed-cowbird-in-a-serviceberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/17\/female-brown-headed-cowbird-in-a-serviceberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird In A Serviceberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FemaleFemale Brown-headed Cowbird perched in a Utah Serviceberry \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I mentioned that the adult Song Sparrows that are nesting high in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> have been busy chasing away other birds that have gotten near their nest and that it has been interesting to observe their behaviors. Three days ago one of the birds that the Song Sparrows chased off was an adult female Brown-headed Cowbird that landed on a serviceberry in front of me.<\/p>\n

I know that some people despise Brown-headed Cowbirds, I don’t.<\/p>\n

Native Brown-headed Cowbirds have bad reputations as brood parasites which means the female cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and their young when hatched by the host species out compete their young which can mean fatalities of the host species chicks. That sounds grim and it is, especially since the cowbirds expanded their range to the east when historically they used to live primarily in the Great Plains.<\/p>\n

These \u201cBuffalo Birds\u201d expanded their ranges in all directions during the 19th and 20th centuries during a time period when humans were cutting down the forests to the east, west, north and south of the Great Plains. Cowbirds typically avoid heavily forested areas but once those forests were chopped down and the lands that used to be forested became open fields, farm lands and residential areas it made it easier for these birds to expand their range.<\/p>\n

Some of the birds here in the west have adapted to brood parasites.\u00a0 If Yellow Warblers find a cowbird egg in their nest they build a new nest right over top of the cowbird egg and lay more eggs of their own and the cowbird egg never hatches because it isn\u2019t incubated. Other birds recognize the cowbird eggs and destroy them but a large portion of the 220+ host species don’t.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Song Sparrows chased off the female Brown-headed Cowbird three days ago because they didn’t want her laying an egg in their nest? I don’t know for sure, the sparrows probably laid their eggs more than a week ago.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Savannah Sparrow with fledgling Brown-headed Cowbird \u2013 Nikon D300, f9, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I spend a great deal of time in the field and I’ve only seen Brown-headed Cowbird fledglings with their “host” parents a few times. I’ve photographed interactions between cowbird fledglings and “host” Savannah Sparrow adult at Red Rock Lakes NWR in Montana. The Brown-headed Cowbird fledgling ran the adult sparrow nearly ragged trying to find enough food to satisfy the young bird’s bottomless appetite.<\/p>\n

I find Brown-headed Cowbirds<\/span><\/a> to be as fascinating as any other bird I photograph and when I have them in my viewfinder I don’t spend a moment of my time thinking about them being brood parasites. I am focused on taking photos of them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Brown-headed Cowbird photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three days ago one of the birds that the Song Sparrows chased off was an adult female Brown-headed Cowbird that landed on a serviceberry in front of me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,425,223,12,4594,608,831,26,773],"tags":[4004,6523,6605,3813,3483,10072,2428,3940,4134,7399,7400,4070,834,4141,6667,4067,4071,1059,4069,4194,4104,229,6698,855,4195,6522,4193],"class_list":["post-70937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-brown-headed-cowbirds","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-morgan-county","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-savannah-sparrows","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-berries","tag-blackbird","tag-blackbirds","tag-brood-parasite","tag-brown-headed-cowbird","tag-canyon","tag-chick","tag-cowbird","tag-cowbirds","tag-female","tag-fence-rail","tag-fledgling","tag-fruit","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-molothrus-ater","tag-mountains","tag-passerculus-sandwichensis","tag-perched","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-serviceberry","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-utah-serviceberry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-is9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91671,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/07\/05\/male-brown-headed-cowbird-displaying\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":0},"title":"Male Brown-headed Cowbird Displaying","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Brown-headed Cowbird breeding activity hasn't slowed down yet high in the Wasatch Mountains if this displaying male is any indication of their mating attempts.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brown-headed Cowbird male displaying, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-male-displaying-mia-mcpherson-7230.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":90143,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/09\/female-brown-headed-cowbird-and-willow-catkins\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":1},"title":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird And Willow Catkins","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Late last month I photographed this female Brown-headed Cowbird surrounded by willow catkins in East Canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird with willow catkins, East Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-willows-mia-mcpherson-0846.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-willows-mia-mcpherson-0846.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-willows-mia-mcpherson-0846.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-willows-mia-mcpherson-0846.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27488,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/17\/juvenile-brown-headed-cowbird-perched-on-moth-mullein\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":2},"title":"Juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird perched on Moth Mullein","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to post an image of a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird today because despite their bad reputations as brood parasites they are native birds that I think are worth pointing my lens at.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird perched on Moth Mullein, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6572.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6572.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58897,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/05\/goofy-looking-upside-down-displaying-male-brown-headed-cowbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":3},"title":"Goofy Looking Upside Down Displaying Male Brown-headed Cowbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo of a displaying male Brown-headed Cowbird in a goofy upside down pose is not a good photo technically but I absolutely love the behavior it shows.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Upside down male Brown-headed Cowbird, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70922,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/16\/adult-song-sparrow-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":4},"title":"Adult Song Sparrow Up Close","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There have been a few times that the Song Sparrows have gotten so close to me that I've felt as if I could almost reach out and touch them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Song Sparrow close up, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-adult-close-up-mia-mcpherson-6508.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58712,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/22\/singing-song-sparrow-versus-a-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":70937,"position":5},"title":"Singing Song Sparrow Versus A Wind","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Just seconds after I took this photo I think the Song Sparrow decided it had had enough of the wind because it took off and left the bouncy serviceberry perch.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Song Sparrow singing in a wind, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/song-sparrow-in-wind-singing-mia-mcpherson-4282.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}