COWBIRD TO THE RESCUE! My hero.

[Guest]

This is a little off topic but intriguing to me. I was shooting HOSP and EUST Near my feeders, I hit a male HOSP at that exact moment he started flopping around, A male Brown-headed Cowbird stepped in and attacked the HOSP until it stopped moving. Has anyone else seen behavior like this before from cowbirds or any other species?

Totals for today

HOSP-3 + (1 with help) = 4
EUST-2 <--- + 2 nests in neighbors old weathered martin house he agreed to block the holes but he like how the house looks so he'll paint the "holes" black. I love my neighbors.

These are high numbers seeing as I have not gone HOSP shooting in over a month.

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

Well, I remember getting a Starling and as it hit the ground, I picked up my field glasses to get a good look and make sure it was expiring. At the instant I got a clear focus on it, I saw a pair of yellow talons cross the 8" field of view. When I dropped the binocs to see what kind of bird had just swooped by it was gone and out-of-sight just that fast having flown into the woods! The Starling was gone in an instant. I've also pegged house sparrows and then when I go out to "clean up" 15 minutes later, they are either gone, or reduced to a small feather pile! I'm thinking the most likely candidates are the Grackles who hang around for peanuts from the peanut feeder in those cases.

[Guest]

Oh, yes, I frequently watch bluebirds attack a starling or sparrow as they fall to the ground. They sometimes continue swooping at it for four or five runs. One day I shot a starling and a sparrow both, and the bluebird preparing a nest in a nearby box "fought" them both, then sat on the wires above them. My wife and I laughed at how "tough" he must have thought he was!

I recently saw even a goldfinch take a run at a falling starling.

As a shot bird falls, it briefly has the appearance of undertaking an attack dive, and other birds nearby respond immediately.

These two species are such a threat to all our native birds, they are natural enemies to them all. I'm sure if we had the opportunity, we'd see many different breeds fight the starlings at various nesting sites.

I find it interesting that a cowbird, our only total nest parasite, would attack this way, though, because obviously the cowbird would not have occasion to defend its own nest. This is a hint to me that the cowbird has to perhaps fight starlings even as they are trying to lay in another's nest.

[Guest]

It was on the ground when I shot it.
The cowbird kicked it's alien a$$

[Glen Webb Jr]

As a shot bird falls, it briefly has the appearance of undertaking an attack dive, and other birds nearby respond immediately.

This must be why the tree swallows always attack the starlings I throw to the opossum den. It's like whenever I walk up to the nestbox trap to empty the catch, the tree swallows gather around on the powerline above the trap. As soon as I expire the bird and toss it to the possum hole, the tree swallows give off an alarm call and attack the starling till it hits the ground.