CLOSED: What is going on here?

Is this a bird adoption?

The little sparrow is feeding a monster!

The poor little Chipping Sparrow is feeding a Cowbird. The Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds nests and are raised by the unsuspecting
foster parents. Here is a link with more info http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brown-headed_cowbird/id .

Oh man! I'll bet the young cowbird is running the sparrow ragged with his big appetite! That parasitizing (is that a word?) of other birds' nests is weird.

Yes that is the word that is usually used to describe the Cowbirds "nesting" habits. It is a shame that they will push out the birds that belong in the nest and the foster parents have to deal with raising a giant (in many cases)! Last year I had a male Cardinal that was feeding a Cowbird. I agree..nature is weird at times!

Thank you for helping with this. I had forgotten what the cowbird babies look like. I have a bunch of the brown & black adults, but this big fat baby looked so finch-like!

They are back at it again this morning.

They (the Cow Birds) are referred to as 'Parasitic Birds' for the very reason that they knock out one, two, all of the existing eggs in the 'host birds' nest and lay theirs. I don't remember if they only lay one egg but that would be advantageous to them. A small bird might not be able to actually raise more than one 'giant' at a time. Here's a link to some more info about this subject if you're interested.

http://www.buteobooks.com/archives/cowbirds.html

JulieQ, what great capture of nature occurence! Thanks for sharing.