Molothrus ater
The Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a small, opportunistic passerine bird, renowned for its obligate brood parasitic lifestyle. Males are striking with their glossy, iridescent black bodies contrasting sharply with a chocolate-brown head, measuring about 16-22 cm in length, with a wingspan of 32-38 cm, and weighing 30-60 grams. Females are more subtly plumaged, uniformly dull gray-brown with faint streaking on the underparts, lacking the male's distinct head coloration, though sharin...
Favors open woodlands, forest edges, grasslands, agricultural fields, suburban parks, and disturbed areas. Typically found at low to mid-elevations.
Primarily granivorous, consuming a wide variety of seeds, especially from grasses and weeds, but also feeds heavily on insects, particularly during the breeding season. Forages mainly on the ground, often near grazing animals.
Brown-headed Cowbirds are diurnal, spending much of their day foraging on the ground, often in association with livestock or other large animals that stir up insects. Outside the breeding season, they form large, often mixed-species, roosting flocks in trees or dense shrubs, which can number in t...
The Brown-headed Cowbird boasts an extensive geographic distribution across most of temperate North America. Its breeding range spans from southern Canada, across the contiguous United States, and south into central Mexico. Northern populations are migratory, moving south for the winter, while ma...
Least Concern
- Brown-headed Cowbirds are North America's most widespread obligate brood parasite, meaning they never build their own nests or raise their young. - A single female cowbird can lay 30-40 eggs in a breeding season, distributing them among dozens of different host nests. - Over 220 different bird ...