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Cowbirds are bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s belonging to the genus Molothrus in the family Icteridae. They are brood parasitic
Brood parasite

Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood-parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite....
 New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 birds which are unrelated to the Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
 cuckoo
Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos ....
s, one of which, the Common Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo

The Common Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the Geococcyxs, the ani , the coucals, and the Hoatzin....
 is the best-known brood parasitic bird.

This family includes five species of cowbirds that form the natural genus Molothrus. This has been determined by phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondrion. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found in the cell nucleus....
 sequences (Lanyon 1992, Johnson and Lanyon 1999, Lanyon and Omland 1999, in Lowther, 2004).

The genus Molothrus includes:

The non-brood parasitic Bay-winged Cowbird
Bay-winged Cowbird

The Bay-winged Cowbird , also known as the Baywing, is a species of bird in the Icteridae family. It is monotypic within the genus Agelaioides, but has traditionally been placed in the genus Molothrus....
 was formerly placed here; it is now Agelaioides badius.

These birds feed on insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, including the large numbers that may be stirred up by cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
.






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Encyclopedia


Cowbirds are bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s belonging to the genus Molothrus in the family Icteridae. They are brood parasitic
Brood parasite

Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood-parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite....
 New World
New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
 birds which are unrelated to the Old World
Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century....
 cuckoo
Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos ....
s, one of which, the Common Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo

The Common Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the Geococcyxs, the ani , the coucals, and the Hoatzin....
 is the best-known brood parasitic bird.

This family includes five species of cowbirds that form the natural genus Molothrus. This has been determined by phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondrion. Most other DNA present in eukaryotic organisms is found in the cell nucleus....
 sequences (Lanyon 1992, Johnson and Lanyon 1999, Lanyon and Omland 1999, in Lowther, 2004).

The genus Molothrus includes:
  • Screaming Cowbird
    Screaming Cowbird

    The Screaming Cowbird is a species of bird in the Icteridae family.It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.Its natural habitats are pastureland and heavily degraded former forest....
    , Molothrus rufoaxillaris
  • Giant Cowbird
    Giant Cowbird

    The Giant Cowbird, Molothrus oryzivorus, is a large passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae, the orioles, grackles, cowbirds, etc. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago....
    , Molothrus oryzivorus (formerly in Scaphidura)
  • Bronzed Cowbird
    Bronzed Cowbird

    The Bronzed Cowbird , Molothrus aeneus, is a small icterid.It breeds from the southern U.S. states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana south through Central America to Panama....
    , Molothrus aeneus
  • Shiny Cowbird
    Shiny Cowbird

    The Shiny Cowbird, Molothrus bonariensis, is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America apart from the most dense jungles, mountains and deserts , the coldest southernmost regions , and on Trinidad and Tobago....
    , Molothrus bonariensis
  • Brown-headed Cowbird
    Brown-headed Cowbird

    The Brown-headed Cowbird is a small brood parasite icterid of temperate to subtropical North America. They are permanent residents in the southern parts of their range; northern birds bird migration to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat about March/April....
    , Molothrus ater


The non-brood parasitic Bay-winged Cowbird
Bay-winged Cowbird

The Bay-winged Cowbird , also known as the Baywing, is a species of bird in the Icteridae family. It is monotypic within the genus Agelaioides, but has traditionally been placed in the genus Molothrus....
 was formerly placed here; it is now Agelaioides badius.

These birds feed on insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s, including the large numbers that may be stirred up by cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
. In order for the birds to remain mobile and stay with the herd, they have adapted by laying their eggs in other birds' nests. The cowbird will watch for when its host lays eggs, and when the nest is left unattended, the female will come in and lay its own eggs.

The cowbird eggs do not look much different from the hosts' eggs, and the host will normally incubate the eggs. The cowbird chicks grow quickly, and may consume most of the food the host brings. If starvation does not kill the other birds, in some species the cowbird will use its large size to push the other chicks out of the nest. The Giant Cowbird does not appear to harm its host oropendola
Oropendola

The oropendolas comprise two or three genera of South America and Central American passerine birds in the Icteridae family.All the oropendolas are large birds with pointed bills, and long tails which are always at least partially bright yellow....
 or cacique
Cacique (bird)

The caciques are passerine birds in the Icteridae family. Members of the family are resident breeders in tropical South America and north to Mexico....
 chicks.

Cowbirds in popular culture

  • In the comic strip Pogo
    Pogo

    File:WaltKelly Pogo 1964-03-08 96.jpgPogo was the title and central character of a long-running daily comic strip created by Walt Kelly. Set in the Georgia section of the Okefenokee Swamp, the strip often engaged in social and political satire through the adventures of its funny animal characters....
     by Walt Kelly
    Walt Kelly

    Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr , known as Walt Kelly, was a cartoonist notable for his comic strip Pogo featuring characters that inhabited a portion of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia ....
    , two cowbirds were anti-American communists. In a post-Kelly version of the strip, they were transformed into Muslim Extremists.