When illustrator Diana Sudyka was in second grade, she was given a Peterson’s Bird Field Guide. She still remembers making her first bird ID — a Brown-headed Cowbird. Even years later, Sudyka’s love of birds has stuck with her. She recently illustrated the children’s book, How to Find a
As most young male birds get ready to leave the nest, they learn their species’ song by hearing their male parent sing it again and again. They imprint on their father’s song. So how does a Brown-headed Cowbird, raised by parents of a different species, learn to sing the correct song? The
Brown-headed Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. And these birds raise the cowbird chicks - often at the expense of their own young. This beautiful Yellow Warbler is a frequent target of the cowbird's unwelcome eggs. But it has developed a way to reject the role of foster parent
