Jim Overfield
December 2025 - Brown-Headed Cowbird
About the Image(s)
While walking back to my car from taking photos of birds in May of 2024, this Brown-Headed Cowbird landed on a low branch just a few feet away from me.
Handheld full frame body using 100-400 lens set at 400 mm, manual settings at 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250.
4 comments posted
Jim,
The Cowbird's image is very sharp and the bokeh is complimentary to isolate the subject. The color is spot on and I like the sun bathing the Cowbird nicely. Posted: 12/01/2025 14:27:18
The Cowbird's image is very sharp and the bokeh is complimentary to isolate the subject. The color is spot on and I like the sun bathing the Cowbird nicely. Posted: 12/01/2025 14:27:18
OOh those horrid cowbirds. A nice capture of a species I would like to eliminate. Posted: 12/03/2025 22:23:22
Jim, a striking bird beautifully caught. He has great color, sharpness and definition and all technical aspects are outstanding. Let me also tell you why I hate cowbirds. We have five feeders in our backyard close and within 300 feet of our sunroom window I have built 11 bluebird houses. There is one cowbird that thinks he owns all the property in my eyesight and when any bird comes close to our feeders this cowbird attacks. Posted: 12/04/2025 18:38:48
But that's not the worst of it. Females lay their eggs in smaller birds' nests, then leave the smaller birds to raise the young cowbirds. Because they are bigger than the small babies they out-compete for food, even going so far as to push the other nestlings out of the nest. They are horrid birds. The males are the black ones with the brown heads. This is a female, no doubt looking for a nest to parasitize. Posted: 12/10/2025 03:40:05