And here I thought you were testing me! I got my book out and everything. Messing with the newbie; I get it.

Oh Brown Headed Cowbirds are parasitic in that they lay their eggs in other birds nests. The other birds hatch the eggs & raise the birds as their own. The cowbirds are so much larger than many that they end up getting all the food & the babies of the mother die.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

mellielong said:And here I thought you were testing me! I got my book out and everything. Messing with the newbie; I get it.

No, no testing you -- just a mistake. Although we *can* start testing you.

Melanie, here is the lowdown on the Brown-headed Cowbird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

Wow, they're like super jerks! My caterpillars get parasatized but at least it's by things like wasps and flies. I know there are some ants that raise caterpillars but at least they get the trade off of eating the honeydew the caterpillars excrete. Those cowbirds sound like jerks. Of course, like I educate folks at the museum, nature can be a rough and vicious place. We like to pretend it's all butterflies and songbirds but the reality can be pretty gross and brutal.

I still think they are beautiful birds and I love their spring time singing, nature can be harsh at times.

with you both.

Melanie, regarding the House Finch/Sparrow ... yep, that was a typo on my part.

At one time we had so many Brown-headed Cowbirds from January sometimes into June; they are pretty but oh my it is sad knowing that they are so parasitic at the cost of other baby birds. I haven't seen any yet this year so hopefully they will stay away. We've had many, many Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds the past two or three years and they are so loud and boisterous that the smaller birds are less active at the feeders.

I'd love to see the Cedar Waxwings around longer but they have been scarce the past couple of years. Depending on the weather and when they head back north we can see only a couple to very large flocks and sometimes they are still around in April. These photos are from a few years ago when they would perch in the Black Cherry trees at our other house.

April 2011 in a Black Cherry Tree and a single bird March 2012 in the Cypress Tree:

My aunt thanks you guys for the help. She was thinking House Sparrow, but they sure do vary a lot. The pictures on the website were very helpful.

Tell your aunt it's our pleasure! Yes, there are lots of different sparrows & they can get confusing to ID as well as varying even within the same species and then the seasonal variations, regional variations. I really love the All About Birds site -- it's great but I often check other references too just to see many photos so one can figure out all those varying looks.

The Cedar Waxwings always look to me like they are going to a masquerade party decked out in all their finest. Rather regal looking birds.

Those Cedar Waxwings are my favorite bird

oooh! I'd love to see some Cedar Waxwings! Those birds are so regal looking!

They are really beautiful aren't they? Someone has posted a photo of the Bohemian Waxwing before too (maybe Margaret?) and they are just as gorgeous! Yep, it was Margaret ... I found her post with a photo of the Bohemian Waxwing from last December: http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Cool yellow lines down their wings like morse code dashes. And the upswept eyeliner!

Beautiful waxwing photos.

I haven't seen any brown headed cowbirds this year either. We had some around last year... that's when I ID'd them and learned about their egg laying!

Here's some pics I found from last year, actually last May so maybe they just haven't arrived yet this year?






I also ran across this picture of a bird I never knew what kind... maybe because I didn't think the pics were good enough?

@wildflowers
Christine that's a Great Crested Flycatcher!
Check it out:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/g...

Yep. Ann beat me to it.

Oh great, Ann! He was a pretty big fellow! Gotta love flycatchers!!!

Thank you for the link! I was just listening to the sounds they make and now (maybe) I'll know how to ID from the sounds they make too!

A few from this warm drizzly morning.

Goldfinches starting to color up


Downey woodpecker


Wren with it's tail tucked


Red-bellied Woodpecker


Cardinal

YVW Christine! I keep trying to get a clear photo of mine. Hard to catch them on film.

Nice shots Dave. I'm glad you said the Wren has it's tail tucked - it looks like it has no tail & I wondered how it lost it.