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Song Sparrow - Cowbird parasitism



This morning I noticed my song sparrows feeding a rather large, and much
lighter colored chick. At first I didn't think much about it, then while
I was in my bedroom, in a tree three feet away from the window, I got a
very close look at it. I compared to the picture of a Brown-headed
cowbird juvenile on my Thayer's Birds of North America software and it
was almost identical.

I spent the rest of the day at home (I had been up to 3:00 A.M. the
night before hosting 4 twelve year olds at a birthday sleep over for my
son) planning to rest on my screen porch. The bird chirped loudly for
the rest of the day hopping from bush to bush calling for the parents to
feed it. It would occasionally wander over to the feeder to be chased
away by either my Cardinal or Carolina Wren juveniles (the Cardinals
have three in their brood and the Carolina Wrens at least four). 

It didn't appear that the parents could keep up with the food needs of
the chick. It will be interesting to see if the bird stays around in the
yard after the parents quit feeding it.
   
-- 

Linda Sharp
Greenville, SC
nljsharp@worldnet.att.net