Brown-Headed Cowbird: Nature's Freeloading Parent

The brown-headed cowbird is a strange bird. It does not build its own nest. It does not raise its own babies.

A mother cowbird lays her eggs in another bird's nest. She can lay more than 36 eggs in one season! Each egg goes into a different nest.

The other bird does not know the egg is not hers. She sits on it. She takes care of the baby cowbird like her own.

Cowbird babies hatch fast. They grow fast too. They are often bigger than the other baby birds. So they get more food.

Cowbirds live in North America. Long ago, they followed big animals called bison. They moved a lot, so they could not stay to build nests.

This is not because cowbirds are 'bad.' It is just how they survive. Nature has many different ways of being a parent.