Ok whos Moms Favorite out there ?

You tell me.

Koda, do you know if that is a cowbird chick?

Yes, that was definitely a calfbird (young cowbird). It was being fed by its chipping sparrow "mother" on the roof of my backyard feeder. There were a lot of cowbirds in the area.

This spring, I had a couple of chipping sparrow nests in my yard, and one of them had a couple cowbird eggs in it.

last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed.

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders.

quote AndySG: "

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders."

daisy, crossman, or other? :)

quote kanoes: "

quote AndySG: "

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders."

daisy, crossman, or other? :)"

Daisy here..

Daisy here.."

Yep, they make fine racoon food.

quote mc2mens: "

quote kanoes: "

quote AndySG: "

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders."

daisy, crossman, or other? :)"

Daisy here.."

Good thing for you that starlings lack legal protection, being an exotic invasive species not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty (this is true in Wisconsin and I assume elsewhere in the Midwest).

According to the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, European Starlings do not engage in brood parasitism outside their own species. They will take over the nesting sites of other species, but they lay eggs only in their own and each other's nests. This leads me to believe that kanoes' observation was of a cowbird rather than a starling.

I suspect you are correct, Koda.

Three or four years ago, someone I worked with brought me an unidentified, bald, baby bird to raise. It wasn't until it was 2/3 grown that I was able to identify it as a starling. As "Sir Poops-a-lot" began to fly, it became apparent that Gus (my late dog) and I were to become its flock. Gus, a German short-haired pointer who was normally fascinated by birds, would become irritated at the bird running around between his feet. Sir Poops-a-lot finally left us after I swatted him away when he grabbed me on to the shoulder of my shirt, flapping his wings, trying to prevent me from performing the very un-bird-like act of walking under the house (raised foundation). Anyway, he flew away to find a more sensible flock.
My point to the above story is that any starling raised by another species of bird would hang out with the birds that raised him.

quote Koda: "

quote mc2mens: "

quote kanoes: "

quote AndySG: "

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders."

daisy, crossman, or other? :)"

Daisy here.."

Good thing for you that starlings lack legal protection, being an exotic invasive species not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty (this is true in Wisconsin and I assume elsewhere in the Midwest).


According to the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, European Starlings do not engage in brood parasitism outside their own species. They will take over the nesting sites of other species, but they lay eggs only in their own and each other's nests. This leads me to believe that kanoes' observation was of a cowbird rather than a starling.
"

I was just kidding K.

no koda. it was a starling. i semi-know my backyard birds thank you.

quote mc2mens: "

quote Koda: "

quote mc2mens: "

quote kanoes: "

quote AndySG: "

quote kanoes: "last year i had a mother wren trying to keep a baby starlings belly full. not a job i would have enjoyed."

Yeah, them durn Alien Starlings will remove native bird eggs from tier nests and lay tier own eggs expecting the native mother to raise the hatchlings. You can guess what happens to Starlings when they raid my bird feeders."

daisy, crossman, or other? :)"

Daisy here.."

Good thing for you that starlings lack legal protection, being an exotic invasive species not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty (this is true in Wisconsin and I assume elsewhere in the Midwest).

According to the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, European Starlings do not engage in brood parasitism outside their own species. They will take over the nesting sites of other species, but they lay eggs only in their own and each other's nests. This leads me to believe that kanoes' observation was of a cowbird rather than a starling.
"

I was just kidding K. "

I suspected as much. But if you were serious, you'd be part of a long-standing and widespread effort to keep starling populations down. What's interesting, though, is that starlings are common where people congregate, i.e., in urbanized settings. They aren't seen much out in the country. That sort of self-limits the population.

Basspro69, I can see a great non-Hallmark Mother's Day card coming from this.

We were at a resort a few weeks ago and one of the girls found a baby bird on the ground. No nest in site. She is the kid that has to save every living creature that looks homeless so I told her I would help but the out come may not be to good as I'm not a BIRD! Four days of feeding this little guy/gal chopped up bait with a tweezers every two to three hours was going well until......I got up hit the lake at 5:00am to fish, fish were biting, got off the lake at around 10:30am, cleaned fish, by 11:30am little "peeper" wasn't peeping. To long with no food I guess. : (

What I did learn was birds are good "nestkeepers". I told the girls if we can get him to poop we know our feedings are going well. The make shift "nest" was a cut off styrofoam cup. When he pooped he would lift his little butt over the edge and go, then settle back in. Never once in the four days did he mess his nest! Sounds funny but I think he knew my voice. When he was sleeping and I talked he would stretch up his head and open his mouth. So cute.

Can anyone tell me what this bird was?


Peeper

The "nest"

Daughter sleeping with Peeper

Kendra,
I've raised birds from that young and younger. Even being familiar with the local birds (here in central Calif), I can only speculate as to the identity of chicks so young. In fact, some birds resist identification even when they reach adult size, as long as they continue to wear their immature plumage.

Kendra,

I believe Peeper was an American Robin but as previously mentioned, identification at that age is very difficult.

In regards to the Daisy comments...
...a few years back I decided to post at my deck, Daisy in hand, with sliding door cracked open... to cleanse the back tree of unneeded Starlings.
Wife came home. Comments invoking "Jed Clampett" and "...we live in the suburbs, not the farm" where made.

Sometimes living in the suburbs is such a drag. Sometimes doing the world a favor ain't so easy.

As a kid growing up on the farm every spare minute was spent ridding the world of sparrows and starlings. One of the farm cats knew when I had the BB gun in hand she should tag along. Some kids had hunting dogs, I had a hunting cat. She ate everything I killed and I never did make a dent in the sparrow or starling population.

Our high school FFA even had a pest control contest where you brought in the heads of starlings, sparrows and the tails of rats, mice. Whoever killed the most won a .22 rifle handed out at school.

Imagine that happening in a school today!! Different time and different place.