The sneaks For years, the brown-headed cowbird has gotten a bad rap in birding and conservation circles.
Cowbirds are natives of the North American plains.
For countless centuries, they followed the huge herds of bison as they roamed across the flatlands. Their food came from the large numbers of insects stirred up by the thousands of hooves of the bison. Because they were itinerants like the buffalo, cowbirds didn't have time to stop, build a nest, lay eggs, and rear a family. Many of the host parents wound up raising the cowbirds, often at the sacrifice of their own babies who would be pushed out or starved out by the larger cowbird chicks. However, over the eons, the balance developed between the cowbirds and other species whose nests they parasitized.