What bird lays egg in another's nest?

I was kind of thinking the same thing, I rather like them.

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Brown Headed Cowbird

CarolynRenee,

The different egg in your picture is a brownheaded cowbird egg. They commonly lay eggs in other species nests. Their young are most often larger and grow faster, and end up resulting in the starvation or pushing the other species' chicks out of the nest. Get rid of the brown speckled egg.

Brown headed cowbird or as we call them, the welfare bird. The eggs of the brown headed cowbird are light bluish green with brown speckles. Throw it out of the nest. They will hatch before the other eggs to get a head start.

Had a pair nosing around here Sunday. Took off before I could load the air rifle. They are not welcome here.

Martin

Mockingbirds are not nest parasites. They are very protective over their nests and young and will attack dogs, cats, and people to protect their young. They will also remove up to 72% of parasitic nesting eggs from their own nests.

I tossed the cowbird egg. And Phoebe parents & nest survived the storms that came through here yesterday.....now lets hope they (and us) can handle another storm come tonight!

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I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. - Thomas Jefferson

Ditto cowbird

Good for you,CarolynRenee!
Cowbirds laying their eggs in songbird nests with the resulting loss of the songbird young is a big factor in the decline of many songbird species. Cowbirds eat grains and fruits rather than insects. They sure did damage to our apple crops. Definitely a SOS kind of pest.
I don't know about mocking birds,but we had a nest of house sparrows under the metal awning at our front window and mourning doves took it over, pushing out the sparrow eggs. They then built their own messy nest there and had a brood of young. The sparrows moved to the side window awning, hatched a new brood there, and the mourning doves threw the little ones out into the grass, but didn't take the nest. There were 5 of us witnessing these events. So sad!

A question and a comment.

It's been used a couple of times in this thread. What does SOS mean? I'm pretty sure it's not save-our-ship in this context.

Regarding mocking birds being protective, I got a kick out of watching a mocking bird and a squirrel last year. The mocking bird had a nest in a crepe myrtle on the other side of the fence surrounding my garden. Squirrels frequently scurry along the top of the fence as they go hither and yon. The day I watched, the mocking bird felt threatened and began swooping around a squirrel trying to pass. The mocking bird would chase the squirrel back; the squirrel would muster some courage and try again. This went on for a few minutes. Finally, the squirrel gave up, dismounted the fence, and ran across the garden to its destination. Mocking bird 1. Squirrel 0.

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Live and learn. Die and forget it all.

dheat, I've seen a mockingbird force my husband take a different route to the barn so no reason why a squirrel wouldn't pack it in. The funny part was that the mockingbird didn't bother me when I took that path.

We had a nest of barn swallows under the carport where I could see them from the kitchen window. One day a couple of bluejays attacked the nest and threw out the fledglings. I was just sick but then I saw a crow do the same to a nest of baby bluejays. Mother Nature is a tough old gal sometimes.

We have nasty English sparrows in the barn that take over the barn swallows' nests. I get the apple picker and tear down their nests as soon as I see them start to build them but before they start to lay.

I'm guessing SOS here means shoot on sight. Others, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I had a cat once that loved to lay under a cedar tree at the corner of our drive way. Until the mockingbirds built a nest in it, that is. Once her babies hatched, that mockingbird momma tried to skin my cat more than once.

SOS is Shoot On Sight. Don't have to bother with permits or other legalities. A few other birds enjoy the same status.

Martin