Just to spice things up a bit, I decided to paint the medallion of the Brown-headed Cowbirds (molothrus ater) in the form of a Pennsylvania Dutch Distelfink. The female (on the left) may lay as many as 70 eggs, one a day, in a season. She will lay them in various other species birds’ nests, sometimes removing one of their eggs to make room for hers. The host birds tend the eggs and feed the young, until they leave the nest at about 10 days old. This parasitism has driven some songbirds to the point of endangerment. It has nearly eliminated the Scarlet Tanager from all but deep woods.
They earned the name Cowbirds from their feeding habits. They follow herds of cattle, bison and horses to eat the insects that are disturbed from the grass as they move through it.
Family: Blackbirds / Orioles
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