Bronzed cowbird
| Bronzed cowbird | |
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| File:Bronzed Cowbird.jpg | |
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M. aeneus
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| Molothrus aeneus (Wagler, 1829)
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The bronzed cowbird (once known as the red-eyed cowbird), (Molothrus aeneus), is a small icterid.
It breeds from the southern U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana south through Central America to Panama. An isolated population on the Caribbean coast of Colombia is sometimes treated as a separate species, the bronze-brown cowbird (M. armenti). They tend to be found in farmland, brush, and feedlots. Outside the breeding season, they are found in very open habitats, and roost in thick woods. They forage in open areas, often nearby cattle in pastures. Their diet mostly consists of seeds and insects, along with snails during breeding season for a calcium source.[2]
The male bronzed cowbird is 20 cm long and weighs 68 g, with green-bronze glossed black plumage. Their eyes are red in breeding season, and brown otherwise. The female is 18.5 cm long and weighs 56 g. She is a dull black with a brown underbelly, and has brown eyes. Young birds have coloring similar to the females, with the exception of grey feather fringes.[3]
Like all cowbirds, this bird is a brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. Hosts include Prevost's ground-sparrow and White-naped brush finch. They develop rapidly, leaving the nest after 10-12 days.
References
- Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
Further reading
- Lowther, P. E. 1995. Bronzed Cowbird (Molothrus aeneus). In The Birds of North America, No. 144 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.
External links
- Bronzed Cowbird videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Bronzed Cowbird photo gallery VIREO
- Pages with broken file links
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Birds of Central America
- Birds of Colombia
- Birds of El Salvador
- Birds of Mexico
- Birds of Panama
- Birds of the United States
- Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula
- Brood parasites
- Fauna of California
- Fauna of the United States
- Fauna of the Lower Colorado River Valley
- Molothrus
- Native birds of the Southwestern United States
