Species: Brown-headed Cowbird
Most recent capture date: 5/2/2021
Age: at least 1 year old
Sex: Female
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Notes: This bird showed signs of having laid eggs recently, which is not surprising if you know the cowbird’s lifestyle: these birds are “brood parasites,” laying eggs in other birds’ nests for those birds to raise alongside their own chicks. Brown-headed Cowbirds are incapable of raising their own chicks, and never build a nest of their own. The females work hard at reproduction in their own way, though: they find and watch the nests of other birds to know when to add their own eggs; they lay extremely quickly, taking less than one minute to lay an egg; and they can lay more than 30 eggs in a season.