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Submitted By
Caleb Koser
Christiansburg, VA, USA
Description
This nest that we thought was a abandoned hummingbird nest was a least flycatcher nest when we saw that the least flycatcher was sitting on it. We were out of the house and than came back and saw two eggs. They had different patterns on the egg. One was tan-white which I think is the L flycatcher and the other one was white with brown spots which I think is a cowbird egg. The picture isn’t the best because the nest is covered with leaves. We had seen a male and female Brown-Headed Cowbird.
Category
Species
Egg ID!
Defiantly looks like L Flycatcher eggs. I agree that if there are some speckled eggs in the nest, then it must be a Brown-Headed Cowbird.
Thankfully up here in NS Canada we don’t really have any issues with them!
Thanks! I am worried that the cowbird egg will steal all the food from the least flycatcher nest because they are bigger. It says that L Flycatchers are a uncommon host to cowbirds eggs. We had had them nest 2 times in different places. It could be a Acadian Flycatcher because it says that they are a common host to cowbird eggs. Some birds will reject cowbird eggs. It doesn’t look like this bird does.
We also have to see the cowbird’s point of view. The female cowbird must lay eggs and not get caught or cowbirds will go extinct. There may be many cowbirds now, but there were many Passenger Pigeons too. Pretty much all mother birds will attack cowbirds to prevent them from laying eggs in their nest if they get the chance. Also, cowbirds must lay eggs in other birds’ nests. They can’t make their own nests and that’s how they were made. The mother cowbird laying eggs in other birds’ nests isn’t our business and its illegal to remove or harm cowbirds and their eggs.
It’s sad that the pigeons are gone. It used to be the most abundant bird. They should make a law to not kill any birds except chickens, turkey, etc. A lot of farmers kill birds because they destroy their crops. Birds are good for their crops because they eat insects which eat the plants. I understand that they their made that way & it can kill the other baby birds but they have to nest somewhere or they will go extinct.
Even chickens, turkeys, and ducks on farms should not be abused.
I bet a lot of people would not like that. They wouldn’t have turkey for thanksgiving. And ducks should not be abused. And it could be made a law in other country’s beside the USA.
People could still eat poultry, but there is no excuse to abuse birds.