Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Starlings- one down 6 billion to go

I am doing my part, on a daily basis, to rid my yard of those nasty, but wary Starlings. I have now officially added The Brown Headed Cowbird to the list of targets. They are not nearly as wary as Starlings and are starting to flood my yard and feeders, so I started taking them out today after reading this blurb on the Audubon website . . . "Centuries ago this bird probably followed bison herds on the Great Plains, feeding on insects flushed from the grass by the grazers. Today it follows cattle, and occurs abundantly from coast to coast. Its spread has represented bad news for other songbirds: Cowbirds lay their eggs in nests of other birds. Heavy parasitism by cowbirds has pushed some species to the status of "endangered" and has probably hurt populations of some others.

I have seen all of these Cowbirds in my back yard over the years, and did not know what the Juvenile and newborn's were. I am not shooting the Redwing Blackbirds nor the Common Grackles because they do not rob nests. The Redwing Blackbirds nest in marshes and eat insects and grubs from your lawn. They are also known to kill Sparrows. The Grackles nest in flocks and do not molest songbird nests. I have found that Redwing Blackbirds and Grackles provide attractive live decoys for Starlings and Brown Headed Cowbirds. Provides a false sense of security to those wary Starlings.

Adult Male


Immature male


Female


Juvenile


Sparrow feeding young Cowbird that was born in the Sparrow's nest