Can someone please help me Identify this bird. She was alone and new to my feeder eating away. I have a lot of activity in backyards with american goldfinches, juncos, titmouse, nuthatchers and woodpeckers but the closest relation to me was to goldfinch nut she really didn't look like any of the others.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Looks like a female Brown-headed Cowbird.
Agree, female Brown-headed Cowbird
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If this bird is the size of a goldfinch, it is too small to be a cowbird, though the bill looks right. Maybe a female house finch? That's what faint breast stripes remind me of.
Ditto to female Brown-headed Cowbird
Resin
I can't help with the bird. But, I can verify the feeder is an authentic coconut half. Nicely done. ^_^
Thank you everyone! It was definitely bigger than a goldfinch so Cowbird it is!
What's with this run of female Brown-headed Cowbirds this past week??
Some Brown-headed Cowbird facts:
* Range from the Arctic Circle throughout all of North America and most of Mexico
* Called Cowbirds because they follow cattle (and long ago-Buffalo) eating bugs that are stirred up
* They are Brood Parasites; They never make nests-just lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species. These guys are known to parasitize more than 200 bird species in the US.
A female Cowbird will lay one egg in a nest, remove one of the host's eggs (in case the nesting host can count) then fly away. Cowbird eggs almost always hatch before the others so hatchling Cowbirds have a head start-usually all the other little guys starve.
