Photography Kevin Fleming on 31 Mar 2008 08:22 am
world’s worst mother?
Brown-headed cowbirds might just be the world’s worst parents. They don’t build a nest, incubate eggs or feed their babies. What they do is lay a single egg in the nests of several different songbirds. That egg hatches before the other eggs and the baby cowbird immediately begins to push the songbird’s eggs and babies out of the nest until it is left alone. The “parents” continue to feed and raise the baby cowbird as their own. You might think a red Cardinal or a Blue Jay would realize the drab young cowbird is not their offspring. But they don’t.
