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The female is a very pleasant
shade of tan with enough highlight streaking to
make her very pretty. For most people and other
birds, the cuteness ends with color. The female
practices obligate brood parasitism.. These
birds must lay their eggs in the nests of other
species. Most of the other mamas will
instinctively hatch and feed these unusual
babies often to the detriment of their own
(cowbird eggs hatch earlier and the hatchlings
tend to be larger and more aggressive). The
female of some species can immediately recognize
these strange eggs and quickly destroys them.
The cowbird female has completely lost the
ability to construct nests and incubate her own
eggs. The name cowbird was given to them as
they would travel with buffalos and feed on
their parasites. Because they followed "where
the buffalo roam", the cowbird never had time to
build nests, lay eggs and raise their young.
Their survival meant finding an alternative
method of perpetuating the species.
There are differing opinions on the impact of
this behavior on the other songbird populations.
Some believe that there is no real proof that
any other bird is truly being threatened by this
practice and there are other factors responsible
for less birds. Others credit the diminished
numbers of certain song birds directly to the
cowbird practice of placing their eggs in other
nests and the larger babies dominating nest
activity.
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