"Juvenile cowbirds sneak out at night" - RE: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[Magnus Fiskesjo]

Thanks. Yes it's curious and hard-to-believe and I think that's why I remember 
so clearly reading about this in the Lab of O's Living Bird member's magazine, 
but as I said, can't find that article online--perhaps it is only in their 
printed version which I must have read 2017 or later. AllAboutBird account is 
much earlier, 2009, and does not bring up what must be some NEW research ( 
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/if-brown-headed-cowbirds-are-reared-by-other-species-how-do-they-know-they-are-cowbirds-when-they-grow-up/
 ).

Regardless, just now a friend sent me this 2015 report below, which mentions 
the SAME strange observations that I believe I read in Living Bird -- with 
minor differences: this report mentions chicks as nightly departing foster 
nests after sunset, not 3am, BUT returning only at dawn; also, it says the 
nightly escape is solitary, NOT to congregate with other young cowbirds in a 
'teenager party' as I remember from Living Bird (which also said that the field 
congregation was only revealed to Science after new tracking that was launched 
only once researchers had found that the cowbird chick they monitored was 
missing from its nest at night! So, maybe the 'teenager party' was only found 
out after simultaneously tracking several youngsters?)  

Anyhow, here goes:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151102152607.htm

Science News

Juvenile cowbirds sneak out at night
Date:November 2, 2015
Source:University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A new study explores how a young cowbird, left as an egg in the nest of a 
different species, grows up to know it's a cowbird and not a warbler, thrush or 
sparrow.

The study, published in Animal Behaviour, reveals that cowbird juveniles leave 
the host parents at dusk and spend their nights in nearby fields, returning 
just after daybreak. This behavior likely plays a role in the cowbirds' ability 
to avoid imprinting on their host parents.

"If I took a chickadee and I put it in a titmouse nest, the chickadee would 
start learning the song of the titmouse and it would actually learn the 
titmouse behaviors," said Matthew Louder, who conducted the study as a Ph.D. 
student with Illinois Natural History Survey avian ecologist Jeff Hoover and 
INHS biological surveys coordinator Wendy Schelsky. "And then, when it was old 
enough, the chickadee would prefer to mate with the titmouse, which would be an 
evolutionary dead end," he said.

Louder is now a postdoctoral researcher with East Carolina University in North 
Carolina and Hunter College in New York.

The imprinting process is widespread among birds and other animals, but brood 
parasites like the cowbird appear to be resistant to imprinting. They will 
imprint on a different species if confined with that species for an extended 
period of time in a cage, but the birds don't appear to do so in the wild.

Cowbird hosts, such as the prothonotary warblers in this study, have their own 
habits and habitats, and seldom choose to live where the cowbirds live or eat 
what they eat. Prothonotary warblers, for example, live in forests and dine on 
insects and caterpillars. Cowbirds spend most of their adult lives in open 
fields and prairies, and while they do eat insects, about three-quarters of 
their diet consists of seeds.

"Among other things, cowbirds have got to learn to eat like cowbirds or they're 
not going to survive very long," Hoover said.

The researchers wanted to test the hypothesis that cowbird moms are the ones 
that lead their offspring out of the forest. There was some support for this 
idea. A recent study from the same team found that cowbird females don't simply 
abandon their eggs in another species' nest. They pay attention to whether the 
young birds survive, sometimes wrecking the nests of birds that kick the 
cowbird eggs out of their nests.

The cowbird females also return to nests where young cowbirds survived to 
fledging age. Cowbird females are often spotted in the vicinity of cowbird 
nestlings, Schelsky said, and sometimes respond (with vocalizations, not food) 
to the nestlings' begging calls.

To track the birds in the forest and prairie, the researchers put radio 
telemetry transmitters on the cowbird nestlings and on adult female cowbirds in 
the forest where the host parents made their nests. The team took blood from 
the birds and conducted genetic analyses to match the juveniles (and their 
radio signals) to their biological mothers.

But tracking the birds, even with the radio transmitters, was next to 
impossible, Louder said. He tried for a year, but was unable to get meaningful 
data. Then study co-author Michael Ward, a professor of natural resources and 
environmental sciences at the University of Illinois, came up with a new 
approach.

"He helped construct an automated telemetry system," Louder said. "We put up 
three radio towers, each with six antennas on it, so you have 360-degree 
directional coverage. All three towers track 

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[John Confer]

I, also, wonder about this report. I've had to handle nestlings for research 
purposes, always with fear and the most care possible. Nestlings don't stay in 
nests any longer than absolutely necessary because nests are depredated by 
raccoon, cat, weasel, skunk, raptors, etc. Nestlings generally can't leave any 
earlier because they don't have sufficient feathers for insulation nor muscle 
strength to move around. Further, since they don't thermoregulate until just 
about the day they leave, they would have a hard time surviving in the lower 
temperatures of night. 3 to 4 to 5 AM is usually the coldest time of the 24 hr 
cycle, often 20-30-40 degrees colder than mid-day. This doesn't makes sense to 
me.

It is a pretty image.

John



From: bounce-124540618-25065...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Magnus Fiskesjo 

Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 10:10 AM
To: AB Clark 
Cc: Michael H. Goldstein ; CAYUGABIRDS-L 

Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

This message originated from outside the Ithaca College email system.


Hi, I would love to know, and I sure wish I could find that article. I 
definitely recall that it said the cowbird chicks that were studied left their 
nest like 3am to go to the field ("party"), and then came back to the nest 
before dawn, to continue to pretend to be their slave parent's child!

Of course later they'll not sit in the nest any more, and wander around while 
being fed, I've seen that. And yes I am sure you are right about most of the 
other things you noted! I maybe should not have said "teenager", -- that was my 
word choice, not that of the scholars whose research was reported in that 
Living Bird magazine article.  I used "teenager" because the cowbird nightly 
field party seemed to be a ... teenager's dance party.

Maybe someone else knows the URL for the actual article. I can't find it, I 
must have read it in print only.

This rather memorable article also talked about other astounding discoveries 
such as that the catbird is the only bird that can resist the cowbird's 
trickery. Unlike other birds, it said, the catbird will expel every egg that 
looks different from its first egg. So, the cowbirds can only outsmart it by 
laying their egg in the catbirds' new nest before even mama catbird has laid 
her first egg there. If it can, then the catbird will expel her own eggs, one 
after the other. And if the cowbird scheme fails, it might rip up the nest (as 
revenge).

--yrs.,
Magnus Fiskesjö
n...@cornell.edu

From: AB Clark [anneb.cl...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:30 AM
To: Magnus Fiskesjo
Cc: Michael H. Goldstein; CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

I wonder if there has been some mis-intepretation either in the article or by 
subsequent readers.  Cowbird young, like other passerines, leave the nest in 
the care of parents (foster or otherwise) and live outside the nest from then 
on.  (OK individuals may hop outside during the day and return at night for the 
day or two over which they fledge.)  Care for cowbirds in the fledgling stage 
lasts a similar time to their relatives, red-winged blackbirds and other 
smallish icterids.  They should be fed and be following or calling to parents 
over the next 12-14 days, not joining older cowbirds.  Teenagers would be 
perhaps yearling cowbirds?  It is later, in summer and fall, when young 
cowbirds are independent of parents, that they flock up with other cowbirds and 
blackbirds.

I haven’t heard anything about 3 am gatherings from Meredith or her students.  
Seems pretty dark for any such passerine to be moving.  West and King studied 
them in aviaries and it could be that researchers got up at 3 am to set up and 
be there when singing started to happen.  But in any case, cowbird song 
learning is a fascinating situation where the basic songs are clearly not 
learned from parents during late nestling or early fledgling periods, i.e. 
develop “innately”, but  are socially modified in a number of ways, feedback 
from female cowbirds and from competing male cowbirds both.  West and King 
published several really nice overviews in accessible papers, Scientific 
American or American Scientist, I believe.

By the way, there is at least one video-documented report of a hatchling 
cowbird behaving like cuckoos and butting host eggs out of the nest.


Anne B Clark
147 Hile School Rd
Freeville, NY 13068
607-222-0905
anneb.cl...@gmail.com



On Apr 11, 2020, at 9:11 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo 
mailto:magnus.fiske...@cornell.edu>> wrote:

This morning, a male cowbird singing, at Salt Point. Never heard that before. A 
very low volume series of thin crispy notes. No clucking, as in some recordings 
of its song.

The bird sat very close, on top of the little pine/fur tree at the lakeside 
fork of the path to the Bluebird Path.

It refused to leave its perch and continued singing even as I stood right under 
the 

[cayugabirds-l] Palmer Woods, Sat 4/11

[Mark Chao]

On Saturday at Palmer Woods (north of A Lot on Cornell's campus), Miyoko
Chu, our son Tilden Chao, and I found some recent arrivals, including a
Blue-headed Vireo (seen also with Brad Walker), a Hermit Thrush (placidly
sharing a fruiting shrub with an unusually beautiful female Eastern
Bluebird), and several of each kinglet species.

Mark Chao

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Louisiana Waterthrush, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush

[Suan Yong]

“My” six-mile-creek Louisiana Waterthrush is also back this afternoon, not 
singing like I was listening for, but calling its sharp chip calls as it 
surveyed its turf up back and forth along the creek before landing fairly close 
on a tree for good ID-confirming views of its tail-pumping gray-and-white 
warbler shape.

Suan
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[cayugabirds-l] RC Kinglet

[Suan Yong]

FOY Ruby-crowned Kinglet singing its bubbly song here in Commonland.

Suan
_
Composed by thumb and autocorrect.
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[cayugabirds-l] OOPS

[W Larry Hymes]

I meant to type MARCH 26th, rather than August.

Larry
===
W. Larry Hymes
120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu
===


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[cayugabirds-l] Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

[W Larry Hymes]

 This morning we had a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER on our lilac outside our 
kitchen window.  Gorgeous bird.

I thought I had reported last week, but we had two FOX SPARROWS, 
scritchy-scratching on the ground.  We also SAW a CHIPPING SPARROW, rather than 
HEARD (as I had reported on August 26th).

Larry
===
W. Larry Hymes
120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu
===


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[cayugabirds-l] Louisiana Waterthrush, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush

[Sandy Podulka]

Along Deputron Hollow Road this morning, wonderful to hear a singing 
Louisiana Waterthrush and Winter Wren, and to see a Hermit 
Thrush.  Also, several Field Sparrows singing.


Sandy Podulka


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[Peter Saracino]

Thanks Kyle.
According to "The Birder's Handbook" one experiment showed that "acceptors"
of cowbird eggs included many warblers, videos, phoebes, and song sparrows,
while robins, catbirds, blue Jay's and brown Thrashers rejected such eggs.
It should also be mentioned that "brood parasitism", while quite possibly
perfected by cowbirds,  is also present in other species (although to a
much lesser extent) including members of such diverse species as ducks and
weavers (same book).
Finally, "females of a wide variety of species sometimes lay eggs in the
nests of other females of the same species." (same book).
Pete Sar

On Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:45 AM Kyle Gage  wrote:

> 
> Some other species such as yellow warbler will reject cowbird eggs or
> build a new nest over one w/cowbird eggs in it. I have seen a 2 layered
> nest before ( after the young have fledged) presumably a yellow warblers.
>
> Also, from Cornell’s NestWatch program: “ Those species which accept
> cowbird eggs either do not notice the new eggs, or as new evidence
> suggests, accept them as a defense against total nest destruction. Cowbirds
> may “punish” egg-rejectors by destroying the entire nest, whereas it is
> possible for egg-acceptors to raise some of their own young in addition to
> the cowbird young”
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Apr 11, 2020, at 10:10 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo 
> wrote:
>
> 
> Hi, I would love to know, and I sure wish I could find that article. I
> definitely recall that it said the cowbird chicks that were studied left
> their nest like 3am to go to the field ("party"), and then came back to the
> nest before dawn, to continue to pretend to be their slave parent's child!
>
> Of course later they'll not sit in the nest any more, and wander around
> while being fed, I've seen that. And yes I am sure you are right about most
> of the other things you noted! I maybe should not have said "teenager", --
> that was my word choice, not that of the scholars whose research was
> reported in that Living Bird magazine article.  I used "teenager" because
> the cowbird nightly field party seemed to be a ... teenager's dance party.
>
> Maybe someone else knows the URL for the actual article. I can't find it,
> I must have read it in print only.
>
> This rather memorable article also talked about other astounding
> discoveries such as that the catbird is the only bird that can resist the
> cowbird's trickery. Unlike other birds, it said, the catbird will expel
> every egg that looks different from its first egg. So, the cowbirds can
> only outsmart it by laying their egg in the catbirds' new nest before even
> mama catbird has laid her first egg there. If it can, then the catbird will
> expel her own eggs, one after the other. And if the cowbird scheme fails,
> it might rip up the nest (as revenge).
>
> --yrs.,
> Magnus Fiskesjö
> n...@cornell.edu
> 
> From: AB Clark [anneb.cl...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:30 AM
> To: Magnus Fiskesjo
> Cc: Michael H. Goldstein; CAYUGABIRDS-L
> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds
>
> I wonder if there has been some mis-intepretation either in the article or
> by subsequent readers.  Cowbird young, like other passerines, leave the
> nest in the care of parents (foster or otherwise) and live outside the nest
> from then on.  (OK individuals may hop outside during the day and return at
> night for the day or two over which they fledge.)  Care for cowbirds in the
> fledgling stage lasts a similar time to their relatives, red-winged
> blackbirds and other smallish icterids.  They should be fed and be
> following or calling to parents over the next 12-14 days, not joining older
> cowbirds.  Teenagers would be perhaps yearling cowbirds?  It is later, in
> summer and fall, when young cowbirds are independent of parents, that they
> flock up with other cowbirds and blackbirds.
>
> I haven’t heard anything about 3 am gatherings from Meredith or her
> students.  Seems pretty dark for any such passerine to be moving.  West and
> King studied them in aviaries and it could be that researchers got up at 3
> am to set up and be there when singing started to happen.  But in any case,
> cowbird song learning is a fascinating situation where the basic songs are
> clearly not learned from parents during late nestling or early fledgling
> periods, i.e. develop “innately”, but  are socially modified in a number of
> ways, feedback from female cowbirds and from competing male cowbirds both.
> West and King published several really nice overviews in accessible papers,
> Scientific American or American Scientist, I believe.
>
> By the way, there is at least one video-documented report of a hatchling
> cowbird behaving like cuckoos and butting host eggs out of the nest.
>
>
> Anne B Clark
> 147 Hile School Rd
> Freeville, NY 13068
> 607-222-0905
> anneb.cl...@gmail.com
>
>
>
> On Apr 11, 2020, at 9:11 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo  

[cayugabirds-l] Fwd: [OneidaBirds] History of Howland's Island presentation at 11 am TODAY

[Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes]

FYI, for those interested...

Begin forwarded message:

From: "'Johnson, Alyssa' 
alyssa.john...@audubon.org [oneidabirds]" 
mailto:oneidabirds-nore...@yahoogroups.com>>
Subject: [OneidaBirds] History of Howland's Island presentation at 11 am TODAY
Date: April 11, 2020 at 9:49:50 AM EDT
To: CayugaBirds post 
mailto:Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu>>, Oneida Birds 
mailto:oneidabi...@yahoogroups.com>>, 
"geneseebird...@geneseo.edu" 
mailto:geneseebird...@geneseo.edu>>
Reply-To: "Johnson, Alyssa" 
mailto:alyssa.john...@audubon.org>>



Good morning,

I will be offering a live presentation about the history of the last 90 years 
of Howland’s Island. If you are unfamiliar, this is a part of the NYSDEC 
Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area and is fantastic for birding, 
hiking, paddling, and many other outdoor activities!

This is a free presentation, offered on Zoom. If you do not have Zoom, you may 
be prompted to download a free app (also available on Android and iOS mobile 
devices). Here is the link to access the presentation:

https://audubon.zoom.us/j/345982536

You will not be able to join until after 11 am, so just be patient if you get a 
screen that tells you something along those lines. I have blocked off 2 hours 
to do this, but it will not take that long. I just wanted to account for 
questions and anything else that may pop up.

I will be recording as well, and the presentation will be shared for those who 
could not join us live.

Hope you can join me!

Best,
Alyssa

--
Alyssa Johnson
Environmental Educator
315.365.3588

Montezuma Audubon Center
2295 State Route 89
P.O. Box 187
Savannah, New York 13146
montezuma.audubon.org
Montezuma Audubon Center on 
Facebook


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Posted by: "Johnson, Alyssa" 
mailto:alyssa.john...@audubon.org>>

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Chris Tessaglia-Hymes
PO Box 488
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Etna, NY 13062
607-351-5740


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[Kyle Gage]


Some other species such as yellow warbler will reject cowbird eggs or build a 
new nest over one w/cowbird eggs in it. I have seen a 2 layered nest before ( 
after the young have fledged) presumably a yellow warblers. 

Also, from Cornell’s NestWatch program: “ Those species which accept cowbird 
eggs either do not notice the new eggs, or as new evidence suggests, accept 
them as a defense against total nest destruction. Cowbirds may “punish” 
egg-rejectors by destroying the entire nest, whereas it is possible for 
egg-acceptors to raise some of their own young in addition to the cowbird young”

Sent from my iPhone

>> On Apr 11, 2020, at 10:10 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo  
>> wrote:
> 
> Hi, I would love to know, and I sure wish I could find that article. I 
> definitely recall that it said the cowbird chicks that were studied left 
> their nest like 3am to go to the field ("party"), and then came back to the 
> nest before dawn, to continue to pretend to be their slave parent's child!  
> 
> Of course later they'll not sit in the nest any more, and wander around while 
> being fed, I've seen that. And yes I am sure you are right about most of the 
> other things you noted! I maybe should not have said "teenager", -- that was 
> my word choice, not that of the scholars whose research was reported in that 
> Living Bird magazine article.  I used "teenager" because the cowbird nightly 
> field party seemed to be a ... teenager's dance party. 
> 
> Maybe someone else knows the URL for the actual article. I can't find it, I 
> must have read it in print only.  
> 
> This rather memorable article also talked about other astounding discoveries 
> such as that the catbird is the only bird that can resist the cowbird's 
> trickery. Unlike other birds, it said, the catbird will expel every egg that 
> looks different from its first egg. So, the cowbirds can only outsmart it by 
> laying their egg in the catbirds' new nest before even mama catbird has laid 
> her first egg there. If it can, then the catbird will expel her own eggs, one 
> after the other. And if the cowbird scheme fails, it might rip up the nest 
> (as revenge). 
> 
> --yrs.,
> Magnus Fiskesjö
> n...@cornell.edu
> 
> From: AB Clark [anneb.cl...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:30 AM
> To: Magnus Fiskesjo
> Cc: Michael H. Goldstein; CAYUGABIRDS-L
> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds
> 
> I wonder if there has been some mis-intepretation either in the article or by 
> subsequent readers.  Cowbird young, like other passerines, leave the nest in 
> the care of parents (foster or otherwise) and live outside the nest from then 
> on.  (OK individuals may hop outside during the day and return at night for 
> the day or two over which they fledge.)  Care for cowbirds in the fledgling 
> stage lasts a similar time to their relatives, red-winged blackbirds and 
> other smallish icterids.  They should be fed and be following or calling to 
> parents over the next 12-14 days, not joining older cowbirds.  Teenagers 
> would be perhaps yearling cowbirds?  It is later, in summer and fall, when 
> young cowbirds are independent of parents, that they flock up with other 
> cowbirds and blackbirds.
> 
> I haven’t heard anything about 3 am gatherings from Meredith or her students. 
>  Seems pretty dark for any such passerine to be moving.  West and King 
> studied them in aviaries and it could be that researchers got up at 3 am to 
> set up and be there when singing started to happen.  But in any case, cowbird 
> song learning is a fascinating situation where the basic songs are clearly 
> not learned from parents during late nestling or early fledgling periods, 
> i.e. develop “innately”, but  are socially modified in a number of ways, 
> feedback from female cowbirds and from competing male cowbirds both.  West 
> and King published several really nice overviews in accessible papers, 
> Scientific American or American Scientist, I believe.
> 
> By the way, there is at least one video-documented report of a hatchling 
> cowbird behaving like cuckoos and butting host eggs out of the nest.
> 
> 
> Anne B Clark
> 147 Hile School Rd
> Freeville, NY 13068
> 607-222-0905
> anneb.cl...@gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 11, 2020, at 9:11 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo 
> mailto:magnus.fiske...@cornell.edu>> wrote:
> 
> This morning, a male cowbird singing, at Salt Point. Never heard that before. 
> A very low volume series of thin crispy notes. No clucking, as in some 
> recordings of its song.
> 
> The bird sat very close, on top of the little pine/fur tree at the lakeside 
> fork of the path to the Bluebird Path.
> 
> It refused to leave its perch and continued singing even as I stood right 
> under the tree.
> 
> Ps. the weirdest cowbird research for me was the Living Bird piece reporting 
> on how a cowbird knows it is a cowbird, and not a whatever other bird, 
> despite being raised by them as slave 

RE: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[Magnus Fiskesjo]

Hi, I would love to know, and I sure wish I could find that article. I 
definitely recall that it said the cowbird chicks that were studied left their 
nest like 3am to go to the field ("party"), and then came back to the nest 
before dawn, to continue to pretend to be their slave parent's child!  

Of course later they'll not sit in the nest any more, and wander around while 
being fed, I've seen that. And yes I am sure you are right about most of the 
other things you noted! I maybe should not have said "teenager", -- that was my 
word choice, not that of the scholars whose research was reported in that 
Living Bird magazine article.  I used "teenager" because the cowbird nightly 
field party seemed to be a ... teenager's dance party. 

Maybe someone else knows the URL for the actual article. I can't find it, I 
must have read it in print only.  

This rather memorable article also talked about other astounding discoveries 
such as that the catbird is the only bird that can resist the cowbird's 
trickery. Unlike other birds, it said, the catbird will expel every egg that 
looks different from its first egg. So, the cowbirds can only outsmart it by 
laying their egg in the catbirds' new nest before even mama catbird has laid 
her first egg there. If it can, then the catbird will expel her own eggs, one 
after the other. And if the cowbird scheme fails, it might rip up the nest (as 
revenge). 

--yrs.,
Magnus Fiskesjö
n...@cornell.edu

From: AB Clark [anneb.cl...@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:30 AM
To: Magnus Fiskesjo
Cc: Michael H. Goldstein; CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

I wonder if there has been some mis-intepretation either in the article or by 
subsequent readers.  Cowbird young, like other passerines, leave the nest in 
the care of parents (foster or otherwise) and live outside the nest from then 
on.  (OK individuals may hop outside during the day and return at night for the 
day or two over which they fledge.)  Care for cowbirds in the fledgling stage 
lasts a similar time to their relatives, red-winged blackbirds and other 
smallish icterids.  They should be fed and be following or calling to parents 
over the next 12-14 days, not joining older cowbirds.  Teenagers would be 
perhaps yearling cowbirds?  It is later, in summer and fall, when young 
cowbirds are independent of parents, that they flock up with other cowbirds and 
blackbirds.

I haven’t heard anything about 3 am gatherings from Meredith or her students.  
Seems pretty dark for any such passerine to be moving.  West and King studied 
them in aviaries and it could be that researchers got up at 3 am to set up and 
be there when singing started to happen.  But in any case, cowbird song 
learning is a fascinating situation where the basic songs are clearly not 
learned from parents during late nestling or early fledgling periods, i.e. 
develop “innately”, but  are socially modified in a number of ways, feedback 
from female cowbirds and from competing male cowbirds both.  West and King 
published several really nice overviews in accessible papers, Scientific 
American or American Scientist, I believe.

By the way, there is at least one video-documented report of a hatchling 
cowbird behaving like cuckoos and butting host eggs out of the nest.


Anne B Clark
147 Hile School Rd
Freeville, NY 13068
607-222-0905
anneb.cl...@gmail.com



On Apr 11, 2020, at 9:11 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo 
mailto:magnus.fiske...@cornell.edu>> wrote:

This morning, a male cowbird singing, at Salt Point. Never heard that before. A 
very low volume series of thin crispy notes. No clucking, as in some recordings 
of its song.

The bird sat very close, on top of the little pine/fur tree at the lakeside 
fork of the path to the Bluebird Path.

It refused to leave its perch and continued singing even as I stood right under 
the tree.

Ps. the weirdest cowbird research for me was the Living Bird piece reporting on 
how a cowbird knows it is a cowbird, and not a whatever other bird, despite 
being raised by them as slave parents. It was discovered that the grown chick 
gets up at 3am and leaves the slaving foster parents' nest, to go hang out with 
other teenager cowbirds in a nearby field. Next question is, how do hey know 
that they should get out of bed at 3am and go to the field party and get to 
know their cowbirdness?
ps. I could not find the reference to the Living Bird magazine article where I 
read this. I only find this partial account, also interesting but no mention of 
the teenager party:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/if-brown-headed-cowbirds-are-reared-by-other-species-how-do-they-know-they-are-cowbirds-when-they-grow-up/

--
Magnus Fiskesjö
n...@cornell.edu
_
From: bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Michael H. Goldstein 
[michael.goldst...@cornell.edu]

[cayugabirds-l] History of Howland's Island presentation at 11 am TODAY

[Johnson, Alyssa]

Good morning,

I will be offering a live presentation about the history of the last 90 years 
of Howland's Island. If you are unfamiliar, this is a part of the NYSDEC 
Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area and is fantastic for birding, 
hiking, paddling, and many other outdoor activities!

This is a free presentation, offered on Zoom. If you do not have Zoom, you may 
be prompted to download a free app (also available on Android and iOS mobile 
devices). Here is the link to access the presentation:

https://audubon.zoom.us/j/345982536

You will not be able to join until after 11 am, so just be patient if you get a 
screen that tells you something along those lines. I have blocked off 2 hours 
to do this, but it will not take that long. I just wanted to account for 
questions and anything else that may pop up.

I will be recording as well, and the presentation will be shared for those who 
could not join us live.

Hope you can join me!

Best,
Alyssa

--
Alyssa Johnson
Environmental Educator
315.365.3588

Montezuma Audubon Center
2295 State Route 89
P.O. Box 187
Savannah, New York 13146
montezuma.audubon.org
Montezuma Audubon Center on 
Facebook


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[AB Clark]

I wonder if there has been some mis-intepretation either in the article or by 
subsequent readers.  Cowbird young, like other passerines, leave the nest in 
the care of parents (foster or otherwise) and live outside the nest from then 
on.  (OK individuals may hop outside during the day and return at night for the 
day or two over which they fledge.)  Care for cowbirds in the fledgling stage 
lasts a similar time to their relatives, red-winged blackbirds and other 
smallish icterids.  They should be fed and be following or calling to parents 
over the next 12-14 days, not joining older cowbirds.  Teenagers would be 
perhaps yearling cowbirds?  It is later, in summer and fall, when young 
cowbirds are independent of parents, that they flock up with other cowbirds and 
blackbirds.  

I haven’t heard anything about 3 am gatherings from Meredith or her students.  
Seems pretty dark for any such passerine to be moving.  West and King studied 
them in aviaries and it could be that researchers got up at 3 am to set up and 
be there when singing started to happen.  But in any case, cowbird song 
learning is a fascinating situation where the basic songs are clearly not 
learned from parents during late nestling or early fledgling periods, i.e. 
develop “innately”, but  are socially modified in a number of ways, feedback 
from female cowbirds and from competing male cowbirds both.  West and King 
published several really nice overviews in accessible papers, Scientific 
American or American Scientist, I believe.

By the way, there is at least one video-documented report of a hatchling 
cowbird behaving like cuckoos and butting host eggs out of the nest.


Anne B Clark
147 Hile School Rd
Freeville, NY 13068
607-222-0905
anneb.cl...@gmail.com



> On Apr 11, 2020, at 9:11 AM, Magnus Fiskesjo  
> wrote:
> 
> This morning, a male cowbird singing, at Salt Point. Never heard that before. 
> A very low volume series of thin crispy notes. No clucking, as in some 
> recordings of its song.
> 
> The bird sat very close, on top of the little pine/fur tree at the lakeside 
> fork of the path to the Bluebird Path. 
> 
> It refused to leave its perch and continued singing even as I stood right 
> under the tree. 
> 
> Ps. the weirdest cowbird research for me was the Living Bird piece reporting 
> on how a cowbird knows it is a cowbird, and not a whatever other bird, 
> despite being raised by them as slave parents. It was discovered that the 
> grown chick gets up at 3am and leaves the slaving foster parents' nest, to go 
> hang out with other teenager cowbirds in a nearby field. Next question is, 
> how do hey know that they should get out of bed at 3am and go to the field 
> party and get to know their cowbirdness?  
> ps. I could not find the reference to the Living Bird magazine article where 
> I read this. I only find this partial account, also interesting but no 
> mention of the teenager party: 
> https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/if-brown-headed-cowbirds-are-reared-by-other-species-how-do-they-know-they-are-cowbirds-when-they-grow-up/
> 
> --
> Magnus Fiskesjö
> n...@cornell.edu 
> _
> From: bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu 
> [bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Michael H. 
> Goldstein [michael.goldst...@cornell.edu]
> Sent: Friday, April 10, 2020 8:05 PM
> To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds
> 
> Cowbirds are crazier than you think…check out the research by Meredith West 
> and Andrew King on the role of female cowbirds (who don’t sing) in shaping 
> the development of juvenile males' song by using rapid wing gestures:  
> http://www.indiana.edu/~aviary/Research/female%20visual%20displays.pdf and 
> more generally, http://www.indiana.edu/~aviary/Publications.htm
> 
> Cheers,
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 10, 2020, at 7:49 PM, Peter Saracino 
> mailto:petersarac...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> I was having a cup of coffee looking out the window at 3 male and 3 female 
> cowbirds going at the sunflower seeds. As I watched them it dawned on me that 
> all of them were raised by foster parents!!!
> According to the Lab of O:
> "the cowbird does not depend exclusively on a single host species; it has 
> been known to parasitize over 220 different species of North American birds".
> Crazy, wild stuff.
> Pete Sar
> --
> Cayugabirds-L List Info:
> Welcome and Basics
> Rules and Information
> Subscribe, Configuration and 
> Leave
> Archives:
> The Mail 
> Archive
> Surfbirds
> BirdingOnThe.Net
> Please submit your observations to eBird!
> --
> 
> 

RE: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

[Magnus Fiskesjo]

This morning, a male cowbird singing, at Salt Point. Never heard that before. A 
very low volume series of thin crispy notes. No clucking, as in some recordings 
of its song.

The bird sat very close, on top of the little pine/fur tree at the lakeside 
fork of the path to the Bluebird Path. 

It refused to leave its perch and continued singing even as I stood right under 
the tree. 

Ps. the weirdest cowbird research for me was the Living Bird piece reporting on 
how a cowbird knows it is a cowbird, and not a whatever other bird, despite 
being raised by them as slave parents. It was discovered that the grown chick 
gets up at 3am and leaves the slaving foster parents' nest, to go hang out with 
other teenager cowbirds in a nearby field. Next question is, how do hey know 
that they should get out of bed at 3am and go to the field party and get to 
know their cowbirdness?  
ps. I could not find the reference to the Living Bird magazine article where I 
read this. I only find this partial account, also interesting but no mention of 
the teenager party: 
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/if-brown-headed-cowbirds-are-reared-by-other-species-how-do-they-know-they-are-cowbirds-when-they-grow-up/

--
Magnus Fiskesjö
n...@cornell.edu 
_
From: bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124539965-84019...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Michael H. Goldstein 
[michael.goldst...@cornell.edu]
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2020 8:05 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Cowbirds

Cowbirds are crazier than you think…check out the research by Meredith West and 
Andrew King on the role of female cowbirds (who don’t sing) in shaping the 
development of juvenile males' song by using rapid wing gestures:  
http://www.indiana.edu/~aviary/Research/female%20visual%20displays.pdf and more 
generally, http://www.indiana.edu/~aviary/Publications.htm

Cheers,
Mike



On Apr 10, 2020, at 7:49 PM, Peter Saracino 
mailto:petersarac...@gmail.com>> wrote:

I was having a cup of coffee looking out the window at 3 male and 3 female 
cowbirds going at the sunflower seeds. As I watched them it dawned on me that 
all of them were raised by foster parents!!!
According to the Lab of O:
"the cowbird does not depend exclusively on a single host species; it has been 
known to parasitize over 220 different species of North American birds".
Crazy, wild stuff.
Pete Sar
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Director, Eleanor J. Gibson Laboratory of Developmental Psychology
Director, College Scholar Program
Department of Psychology, Cornell University
270 Uris Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853

Office 607-793-0537;  Lab 607-254-BABY;  Fax 607-255-8433
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