The dark speckled egg of the cowbird is distinctive from the eggs belonging to the bird species that built the nest. Credit: Courtesy of Doug Hitchcox This story was originally published in June 2023.

Cowbirds have long been known to lay eggs in the nests of other birds, which then raise the cowbirds' young as their own. Now, however, a University of Florida study finds that cowbirds actually ...

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U.S. researchers have discovered gangster-like behavior in cowbirds. Females of the Brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater) fly into other birds' nests and lay an egg for other birds to hatch and ...

Despite their reputation as uncaring, absentee moms, cowbird mothers are capable of making sophisticated choices among potential nests in order to give their offspring a better chance of thriving, a ...

The brown-headed cowbird is one of the most hated birds in the entirety of the animal kingdom. Each springtime, when most birds are settling down to build their nests, the cowbird is sneakily plotting ...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Brown-headed cowbirds are unconventional mothers. Rather than building nests and nurturing their chicks, they lay their eggs in the nests of other species, leaving their young ones ...