AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 3 2 : NUMBER 6

DECEMBER 2 0 0 0

A Birding Perspective

Attu Reflections
Your Letters
The Next New ABA-Area Birds

Western Alaska
by Thede G . Tobish
Birding Essay

The Flying Red Kiss

by Will Nixon
Possible Anywhere

Shiny Cowbird
by Bill Pranty
Answers to the August Photo Quiz

by Kimball Garrett
PointlCounterpoint

Buff-breasted or Hybrid
by Mark B. Robbins and Jonathan K. Alderfer
On Second-Alternate White-winged Terns
by Paul Doherty and Colin Campbell
An Attu Showcase
Tools of the Trade

High-end Roofs
by Stephen Ingraham
.

L-

Cover:A Terek Sandpiper patrols the rocky

shore ofAttu Island,Alaska, in late May
1999. See the Birding Perspectve (page
488) and the Attu Showcase (page 545) for
more. The equipment for this photograph by
Jim Burns wos a Canon A2 camera body, a
. ' Canon 300mm f12.8 lens with a Canon 2x
teleconverter, and Fuji Velvia film.

Book and Media Reviews

The Sibley Guide to Birds Birds of the World

Grasslands Raptors of Europe New Zealand
Rails Herons Birds of Paradise Breeding Systems
The Joy of Birding

Luck of the Draw

by Brenda Carter
New Photo Quiz

Advertisers List page 59 1

possible anywhere

Shiny Cowbird
Bill Pranty*

RY, three bird species invaded

the ABA Area by way of Florida.
First was the Cattle Egret
(Bubulcus ibis) in the 1940s, followed four decades later by the
exotic Eurasian Collared-Dove
(Streptopelia decaocto) and the
Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus
bonariensis; Figure 1).From different points of origin, all three
species moved through or from
the West Indies to reach Florida,
then spread northward and westward across many other states
and into Canada. Deforestation
of Caribbean islands for agriculture and animal husbandry
allowed Shiny Cowbirds to
spread throughout the West
Indies in the past 100 years (Post
and Wiley 1977, Post et al.
1993, Lowther and Post 1999).
First discovered in the ABA Area
in Florida in 1985, Shiny
Cowbirds have been observed as
far north as New Brunswick and
Maine, and as far west as
Oklahoma and Texas. Despite
these distant wanderings, the
Shiny Cowbird is presently a rare
bird in the ABA Area except in
*Audubon of Florida
4 10 Ware Boulevard. Suite 702
Tampa, Florida 336 19
billpranty@hotmail.com
BP is coordinating the Florida Important Bird
Areas Program and a Florida Scrub-Jay habitat
restoration project for the state office of the
National Audubon Society. He is the author of
A Birder's Guide to Florida (ABA 1996), and a
number of scientific papers, and is the Florida
Region spring and fall seasonal editor for North
American Birds.

K W I L L I A W SWl 1 H l V l K t U

Figure I . This photograph, taken at Flamingo, Everglades National Park, Florida, on 25 May
1987, shows a male and a female Shiny Cowbird (in back) with a male Brown-headed
Cowbird (in front). Note the more slender body, flatter head, and longer tail of the Shiny
Cowbird, as well as the subtly diferent bill shape. In the hand, Shiny Cowbirds have a shorter
primary extension than Brown-headed Cowbirds, but this difference may be dif7icult to discern
in the field.The series of photographs that includes Figure I is believed to be the first documentation of Shiny and Brown-headed Cowbirds occurring together anywhere.

southern Florida. Most occurrences have been at coastal sites

during spring, when small to
occasionally sizable flocks of
cowbirds disperse to the continent, presumably from Cuba.
Five of the seven subspecies of
the Shiny Cowbird are restricted
to South America, while a sixth,
M.6. cabanisii, occurs in Panama
and Colombia. The seventh,
M.6. minimus, has advanced
across the Caribbean from its
original range in Trinidad,
Tobago, and a small adjacent
part of the South American
mainland (Blake 1968, Lowther
and Post 1999). Other subspecies
have colonized deforested areas
elsewhere in South America
(Ridgely and Tudor 1989), and
one of them (M.b. bonariensis)

now is widespread in parts of

Chile from accidental or intentional releases (Blake 1968,
Lowther and Post 1999).
Shiny Cowbirds commonly
roost with blackbirds, grackles,
and other cowbirds. At sites
where other icterids are absent
(e.g., Dry Tortugas National
Park, Florida), they are found
singly or in flocks apart from
other species. Shiny Cowbirds
feed mostly on insects and spiders, and seem especially fond of
caterpillars. About 10 percent of
their diet consists of grains
obtained from the ground or at
animal feed troughs and bird
feeders (Lowther and Post 1999).
They also glean arthropods from
the ground, shrubs, and trees,
and birds in the West Indies have
BIRDING. DECEMBER 2000

Figure 2.Adult male Shiny Cowbirds are the

only truly all-black iaerids occurring in the
ABA Area, with black plumage and blackish
sofl parts. The body shows bluish or purplish
iridescence throughout. Compared to Brownheaded and Bronzed Cowbirds, note the
more slender body, flat head, pointed bill,
and longish tail.The black, glossy head easily
distinguishes males from male Brown-headed Cowbirds, and the dark irides rule out
males of Bronzed Cowbirds and Brewer's
Blackbirds.This Shiny Cowbird was photographed in April 1997 at Dry Tortugas
National Park, Florida, one of the most reliable spots in the ABA Area to see this
species.

LARRY SANSONE

been observed flyca tching

(Lowther and Post 1999).
Cowbird taxonomy has
recently been revised. Previously,
taxonomists had included five
species in the genus Molothrus.
In addition to the Shiny, these
were the Brown-headed (M. ater)
and Bronzed (M. aeneus)
Cowbirds of North and Middle
America, and the Bay-winged
(M. badius) and Screaming (M.
rufoaxillaris) Cowbirds of South
America. Four of these species
are obligate brood parasites; M.
badius is the exception. Based on
mitochondria1 DNA analysis,
Johnson and Lanyon (1999) proposed a revision of some of the
New-World blackbirds, including
the genus Molothrw. They proposed moving the Bay-winged
Cowbird from Molothrtrs to
Oreopsar. The remaining
Molothrus species are closely
related to the brood-parasitic
Giant Cowbird (Scdphidura
oryzivora) of Middle and South
America, which they proposed
for merger into Molothrus. The
AOU (2000) has agreed with this
revised taxonomy, resulting in a
reconfigured Molothrus genus
that consists exclusively of the
five obligate brood-parasitic cowSHINY COWBIRD

bird species.
Since its arrival in the ABA
Area, the Shiny Cowbird's
advance has been a subject of
concern because of its potential
effect on breeding passerines,
most of which are already under
reproductive stress from Brownheaded or Bronzed Cowbirds.
Female Shiny Cowbirds lay their
eggs in the nests of other birds,
usually passerines larger than
themselves (Lowther and Post
1999). Throughout their wide
range, Shiny Cowbirds are documented as parasitizing 232
species, but only 74 of these have
successfully reared cowbird
young (Lowther and Post 1999).
Cruz et al. (1998) consider the
following species to be moderately or highly vulnerable to Shiny
Cowbird brood parasitism in
Florida: White-eyed Vireo (Vireo
griseus), Red-eyed Vireo (V olivaceus), Black-whiskered Vireo
(V altiloqtlus), Yellow Warbler
(Dendroica petecbia), Prairie
Warbler (D. discolor), Common
Yellowthroat (Geotblypis
trichas), Northern Cardinal
(Cardinalis cardinalis), Eastern
Towhee (Pipilo
evythrophthalmus), and Redwinged Blackbird (Agelaius

phoeniceus). However, Prather

and Cruz (1995) found no evidence of cowbird parasitism in
nests of Yellow Warbler (n = 20)
and Prairie Warbler (n = 42)
monitored on and near Key
Largo, Florida, from 1990 to
1993.
The eggs of M.b. minimus
average 20.6 by 16.4 mm and
occur in two color morphs.
Spotted or blotched eggs are
white, pale yellow, pale gray, or
pale blue, and are marked with
black, brown, or reddish patterns
(Baicich and Harrison 1997,
Lowther and Post 1999). Some
of these eggs closely resemble
those of Brown-headed
Cowbirds, but Shiny Cowbirds
also lay unmarked eggs that usually are white, but may be very
pale blue; these bear no resemblance to Brown-headed
Cowbird eggs (Baicich and
Harrison 1997). Eggs hatch after
10 to 13 days, and the young
fledge after another 12 to 15
days (Lowther and Post 1999).
In Puerto Rico, egg-laying has
occurred from 10 March to 28
October, with a peak in June and
July (Lowther and Post 1999).
Through 1999, there is no
published evidence that Shiny
515

possible anywhere
Cowbirds have definitely parasitized a nest in the ABA Area,
but observations suggest that
breeding has occurred in Florida
and elsewhere. Among several
anecdotes in Florida, Larry
Manfredi (pers. comm.) watched
a female Shiny Cowbird near
Kendall in April 1998 fly to an
unattended Red-winged
Blackbird nest and remain on it
for three to four minutes-sufficient time to lay an egg (Lowther
and Post 1999). Unfortunately,
the nest could not be checked for
two weeks, at which time it contained only a nestling blackbird.
Elsewhere in Florida, juvenile
Shiny Cowbirds have twice been
identified in areas where adults
were present: at Flamingo in
Everglades National Park in
June-July 1987 (Smith and
Sprunt 1987), and at Bald Point,
in the Florida Panhandle, on 6
September 1995 (J. Dozier in
Pranty 1995). One of the cowbirds collected by Post (1992)
near Fort Pierce on 25 July 1991
was an adult male with enlarged
testes, which may suggest local
breeding.
In 1991, during the Florida
Breeding Bird Atlas project (Kale
et al. 1992), a young Shiny
Cowbird was reportedly observed
being fed by a Red-winged
Blackbird at Homestead. This
report has been cited frequently
(e.g., Robertson and Woolfenden
1992, Stevenson and Anderson
1994, Lowther and Post 1999),
but a review of the original FBBA
data card reveals an apparent
inconsistency. The cowbird was
called "v[ery] young" but was
identified as a Shiny because it
was "just starting song." The age
at which song development
begins in Shiny and Bronzed
Cowbirds is unknown (Lowther
1995, Lowther and Post 1999),

BRIAN E. SMALL

Figure 3. The identification of male Brown-headed Cowbirds is straightforward. Most conspicuous, of course, is the brown head that contrasts with the black body.The iridescence is green
or greenish-blue. Brown-headed Cowbirds are stockier than Shiny Cowbirds, with shorter toils,
rounded heads, and the most conical bills of the three cowbird species found in the ABA Area.
This mole was photographed at South Padre Island, Texos, in May 1998.

BRIAN E. SMALL

Figure 4. Mole Bronzed Cowbirds hove block bodies with bronzy iridescence on the body and
bluish iridescence on the wings and toil. Distinctive in both moles and femoles ore the conspicuous red irides. Moles have o ruff of feathers on the nope that can give them a hunch-backed
appearance. Note olso the substantial bill of this individual. Two subspecies of the Bronzed
Cowbird occur in the ABA Areo. M.a. aeneus is primarily a summer resident in southern and
eastern Texos with on isolated breeding population around New Orleans, Louisiana; some individuals hove begun wintering regularly in Florida in recent yeors. M.a. loyei breeds from
extreme southeostern California east to western Texas, and olso is much less common in the
ABA Areo during the winter months. In recent yeors, the breeding ranges of M.a. aeneus and
M.a. loyei hove come into contact in western Texos. Moles of these two subspecies ore very
similar, but femoles can be distinguished by plumage characteristics. This mole of the aeneus
subspecies was photographed at Bentsen State Pork,Texos, in December 1999.
BIRDING, DECEMBER 2000

but in Brown-headed Cowbirds it

begins when the birds are five to
seven months old (Lowther
1993). In light of this possible
inconsistency, and further considering that the identification was
not supported with details, it
seems wise to disregard the
report.

Identification
Shiny Cowbirds are small blackbirds that can be confused with
only a few other icterids in the
ABA Area. M.b. minimus is the
smallest subspecies of the Shiny
Cowbird, with a total length of
about 18 cm. (Figures 1 and 2).
Although the Brown-headed
Cowbird is the predominant
cowbird species occurring within
the current range of the Shiny
Cowbird in the ABA Area, this
section also discusses field identification criteria for Bronzed
Cowbirds and Brewer's
Blackbirds.
Shiny Cowbirds have a sleeker
and more elegant profile than
Brown-headed (Figures 1 and 3)
and Bronzed (Figure 4) Cowbirds
due to a slimmer body, flatter
head, longer tail, and-thinner bill
(Smith and Sprunt 1987,
Jaramillo and Burke 1999). All
soft parts, including the eyes, are

KEVIN T KARLSON

Figure 6. This first-year male Shiny Cowbird was photographed at the Dry Tortugas,
Florida, in May 1993, Immature males are similar to adults, but they retain some brown
feathering from juvenal plumage into their second calendar year. Note the brown in the
primaries, secondaries, and median coverts, and scattered brown feathering on the flanks
'-.
. .::--...
and lower belly. By their second spring (i.e., in their third calendar year) males have
attained adult plumage. The slender body shape and proportionately longer tail of Shiny *.
Cowbirds are evident here.

dark. The bill is proportionately

thinner and more pointed than
those of Brown-headed or
Bronzed Cowbirds (Figure 5).
Adult Shiny and Bronzed
Cowbirds have entirely dark
bills; the lower mandibles of
some Brown-headed Cowbirds
have pale bases (Jaramillo and
Burke 1999). The Shiny
Cowbird's wingtips do not
extend to the base of the tail,
whereas they do in Brown-head-

**.
-ed and Bronzed Cowbirds (Pyle
1997). However, this character
may not be usable in the field
(Jaramillo and Burke 1999).
Male Shiny Cowbirds are easily
identified when seen well. On the
other hand, the identification of
females and juveniles requires
great care (Jaramillo and Burke
1999).
Males can be distinguished
from Brown-headed and Bronzed
Cowbirds and Rusty (Euphagus

STEVE N . G. HOWELL

Figure 5. Heads of Shiny (left), Brown-headed (middle), and Bronzed (right) Cowbirds. The proportionately thinner and more pointed bill of the
Shiny Cowbird, compared with the more conical bills of the other two species, is a subtle but distinctive field mark. Brown-headed Cowbirds have
a more rounded head and steeper forehead than Shiny or Bronzed Cowbirds, although this feature depends upon posture to some extent. This
illustration, by Steve N.G. Howell, is used with permission from Identification Guide t o N o r t h American Birds by Peter Pyle (1 997).
SHINY COWBIRD

.,

Figure 7. Female Shiny Cowbirds vary in

color, but most are darker overall than
female Brown-headed Cowbirds. Many
ore similor in color to femole Bronzed
Cowbirds, but their irides are always
dark. Some female Shinies, such as this
one photographed at the Dry Tortugas in
April 1997, are very dark, appearing
neorly black in poor 1ight.This female
nearly lacks a paler supercilium and
appears to have only a small paler area
at the throat.Again, note the thin, pointed bill; the whitish streak on the lower
mandible appears to be an artifact of
the camera flosh.

carolinus) and Brewer's (E.

cyanocephalzis) Blackbirds by
their all-black plumage and dark
eyes. Adult males (i.e., in their
third calendar year and older)
are completely black, with bluish
or purplish iridescence throughout the body (Figure 2). The
head becomes more bluish with
feather wear (Lowther and Post
1999). First-year males (Figures
6 and 17)are similar to adults,
but retain some brown feathers
from juvenal plumage on the
body, wings, and tail
(Grzybowski and Fazio 1991,
Lowther and Post 1999).
Because males are easy to identify, it is perhaps not surprising
that every first-state and firstprovincial report of Shiny
Cowbirds in the ABA Area has
involved one or more males.
Female Shiny and Brownheaded Cowbirds are difficult to
separate, but identification is
possible with care and experience, and under ideal viewing
conditions (Figures 1,7, 8, and
9). Bill shape and head shape are
distinctively different (Smith and
Sprunt 1987, Jaramillo and
Burke 1999). The pale base of
the lower mandible, when present, is also diagnostic of Brownheaded Cowbird (Jaramillo and
Burke 1999). Plumage differences between the two are slight

LARRY S A N S O N E

(Smith and Sprunt 1987,

Jaramillo and Burke 1999,
Lowther and Post 1999), but a
few have been noted as possibly
useful in the field. The female
Shiny is darker overall, with a
more prominent supercilium,
darker eye-stripe and auriculars,
and a darker, less-contrasting
throat (Smith and Sprunt 1987,
Jaramillo and Burke 1999).
Female Bronzed Cowbirds

(Figure 10) are easily identified

by their red or reddish irides
(Pyle 1997, Jaramillo and Burke
1999).
Another identification challenge is posed by the female
Brewer's Blackbird (Figure 1I),
which is only slightly larger and
very similar in plumage.
Howevel; the bill of the blackbird is grayish, not dark, and it is
longer and thinner. Blackbirds

KEVIN T. K A R L S O N

Figure 8. Most female Shiny Cowbirds are considerably lighter than the individual in Figure 7.
This classic female, photographed at the Dry Tortugas in April 1999, shows a prominent pole
supercilium, pale throat, characteristic bill shape, slim body, long tail, ond beady block eye.
BIRDING. DECEMBER 2000

BRIAN E SMALL

Figure 9. Female Brown-headed Cowbirds are usually dull brownish overall. The bills of Brownheaded Cowbirds are the most conical of the three species under discussion, as is apparent here.
Some femoles have a pale base to the lower mandible, but this one has an all-blackish bill.
Brown-headed Cowbirds from the western part of the ABA Areq such as this femole, have heads
paler than the rest of the body.Again, note the overall body shape, with rounded head, stocky
body, and short toil.This femole was photographed in southern California in May 1998.

BRIAN E. SMALL

Figure 10. Of the two subspecies of the Bronzed Cowbird found in the ABA Areo, femoles of
M.a, aeneus have all-black plumage, while femoles of M.a. loyei are grayish overall with a
whitish throat. This female M.a. aeneus photographed at South Padre Island, Texas, in May
1998 shows dull but noticeable iridescence throughout the body. The iris color of Bronzed
Cowbirds varies in intensity, but always is a shade of red; adults can be distinguished from all
other icterids in the ABA Areo by this feature alone.
SHINY COWBIRD

shape differs from that of cowbirds. Female Brewer's

Blackbirds show iridescence on
the wings and tail, a feature
shared with some very dark
female Shiny Cowbirds
(Jaramillo and Burke 1999).
Identification criteria for cowbirds in juvenal plumage are still
being developed. The sexes of
Shiny Cowbirds of the minimus
subspecies are nearly identical in
juvenal plumage, while all other
subspecies exhibit clear sexual
dimorphism (Friedman 1929,
Jaramillo and Burke 1999).
Juveniles of minimus are largely
unstreaked below, with brownish-buffy upperparts and pale
fringes to the flight feathers and
wing coverts. The throat and
supercilium may be quite buffy
(Figure 12). In contrast, juvenile
Brown-headed Cowbirds are
heavily streaked below, and
brownish-gray above, with paler
edges to the wing feathersand
wing coverts (Figure 13). The
bills of juvenile Shiny Cowbirds
are usually all-dark, while those
of Brown-headed Cowbirds range
from all-dark to extensively pale
(Jaramilloand Burke 1999.
The courtship song of the
Shiny Cowbird consists of three
to five low, bubbly purr notes
followed by two or three high
notes. A more complex "twitter
song" consists of three introductory notes followed by a twitter
(Friedmann 1929, Jaramillo and
Burke 1999, Lowther and Post
1999). The twitter song, which
sounds like the song of a canary
(D.B. McNair, pers. comm.), is
the basis for the popularity of
Shiny Cowbirds as cagebirds in
parts of South America and the
West Indies. A rapid chattering
call is given mostly by females.
The common call is a low chuck
519

possible anywhere
Figure I I . Even though Shiny
Cowbirds have not yet been
found within the breeding
range of the Brewer's
Blackbird, both species winter
in Florida, albeit usually in different regions. Similarities in
plumage may cause on out-ofrange Shiny Cowbird to be
overlooked as a Brewer's
Blackbird. The blackbird is only
slightly larger than cowbirds,
but note the slender bill and
brownish iris. Female Brewer's
Blackbirds show iridescence on
the wings and toil, which is
shored with some female
Bronzed and Shiny Cowbirds.
This female Brewer's Blackbird
was photographed in Los
Angeles County, California, in
lonuory 1990.

LARRY SANSONE

(Jararnillo and Burke 1999,

Lowther and Post 1999), but
Shiny Cowbirds also have a call
note like that of the Solitary
Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria; D.B.
~McNair,pers. comrn.).
P. William Smith (pers.
comm.) has never heard the
courtship song of the Shiny
Cowbird in Florida, but the twitter song is "fairly frequent."
Post et al. (1993) have "often"
heard males sing the twitter song
in Florida and South Carolina,
but they do not mention the
courtship song. A male at Lake
Apopka, Florida, in February
2000 also sang the twitter song
(K. Radamaker, pers, comm.). In
Florida, Smith (pers. comm.) has
heard male Brown-headed
Cowbirds mimic the twitter song
"perfectly" when in the presence
of female Shiny Cowbirds!
Recordings of the Shiny Cowbird
courtship song and chatter call,
but unfortunately not the twitter
song, are available on Bird Songs
of Florida (Keller 1997).
520

EDUARDO VENTOSA

Figure 12. This juvenile minimus, shown with an adult male, has virtually unstreoked
underparts with a b u f i breast and pole gray belly and undertoil coverts.The wing coverts
ore brownish, edged with buR; and the wings show two indistinct b u n wing-bars. The
head is rich brownish, with o b u f i throat and conspicuous bufi supercilium. Note also
thot the juvenile's bill shape and color mirror the mole's. If this is a typical juvenile minimus Shiny Cowbird, its identification may be fairly easy compared to thot of other juvenile cowbirds in the ABA AreaThese Shiny Cowbirds were photographed in Puerto Rico in
February 1999.
BIRDING. DECEMBER 2000

Figure 13. This juvenile Brown-headed Cowbim

photographed in central Montana in June 1997
differs substantially from the juvenile Shiny
Cowbird in Figure 12. It is a plain grayish-brown
on the wings and back, with pale feather edges
on the wing coverts and mantle.The pale brown
underparts with distinct blackish streaking are
typical ofjuveniles. Note also the rounded head,
short tail, and conical bill, which is all blackish in
this individual; the bills ofjuvenile Brown-headed
Cowbirds often are pale at the base,
sometimes extensively so.

I
BRIAN E. SMALL

ATLANTIC
b
BERMUDA

OCEAN
Grand
Bahama

GULF

OF

Mr

MEXICO
MEXICO

Grind*

Cayman

,
JAMAICA

single report
multiple reports

Grenada,

Figure 14. Deforestation of Caribbean islands for agriculture and animal husbandry allowed Shiny Cowbirds to spread throughout the West
lndies in the past 100 years.The first record, from Vieques Island (east of Puerto Rico) in 1860, may have been an escaped cagebird, but all
later reports are probably the result of"is1and-hopping"invasion. Shiny Cowbirds were recorded first in the Grenadines in 1899, at Barbados in
-1 9 16, Martinique in 1948, Puerto Rico in 1955, the Dominican Republic in 1972, Haiti in 1980, Cuba in 1982, the United States in 1985,
'( 'Canada and Jamaica in 1993. the Bahamas (Andros) in 1994, Grand Cayman in 1995. and Mexico (Yucatan) in 1996. The current range of
Shiny Cowbird outside the ABA Area is shaded in pink an the map. Coastal areas of the U.S. with multiple reports a short distance apart are
shaded in red, while scattered reports are indicated as isolated dots. Principal sources of reports: American BirdslNational Audubon Society
'!Field NoteslField NoteslNorth American Birds and Florida Field Naturalist Cruz et al. (1 985); Post (1 992); Post et d (1 993); Beno(1 995); Kluza (1 998); Raffaele et 01. (1 998); Lowther and Post (1 999).

.!

SHINY COWBIRD

possiblr anywh--

;'<

Figure IS. Shiny Cowbirds reported in all months in the ABA Area.
Because Shiny Cowbirds have remained at some sites for weeks or montns, ony me single
highest count has been used for each site per year or per season. Birds observed at a site at
least three months later than the most recent previous report were considered different individuals, and were counted. In the data columns, the first number is the number of reports, and
the second is the number of individuals. No number denotes no reports. For those reports that
did not list the number of individuals observed, it was assumed that one bird was seen. Data
are taken from the seasonal reports in American BirdslNational Audubon Society Field
NoteslField NotedNorth American Birds through 1999 (reports questioned by regional
editors ore not included); Field Observations reports in Florida Field Naturalist beginning
with the Winter 1989-1 990 season through 1999; Florida Christmas Bird Count reports from
the BirdSource website ~http:/lbirdsource.cornell.edulcbc*;and reports in Post (1 992),
Post et al. (1993), and Benoit ( I 99S).Abbreviations:Alaboma(AL), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA),
Louisiana (LA),Maine (ME), Mississippi (MS), New Brunswick (NB), North Carolina (NC),
Oklahoma (OK), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), and Virginia (VA).

Figure 16. Shiny Cowbirds reported in the ABA Area duringApri1, May,june, andJuly.
Abbreviations and information concerning data are the same as for Figure IS.

1 Totals ~16162~1031415~
9/10 ll~161111 1

111

1 9110 1

At Fort De Soto County Park,

Florida, Lyn Atherton (pers.
comm.) has noticed different foraging behaviors between Shiny
and Brown-headed Cowbirds. In
every instance when she has
observed Shiny Cowbirds feeding, they have been actively hunting for insects, often running
about while chasing them down.
Brown-headed Cowbirds, in contrast, feed "rather calmly" on
522

111 111138

111

515 11691560 1

seeds. Only once, in fall, has

Atherton observed a Brownheaded Cowbird feeding on
insects at the park. Considering
the greater proportion of animal
matter in the Shiny Cowbird's
diet compared to the predominantly vegetarian diet of the
Brown-headed Cowbird (90 percent versus 25 percent: Lowther
1993, Lowther and Post 1999),
this active foraging behavior of

the Shiny Cowbirds might be

expected, and may be a useful
indicator for identifying female
and juvenile cowbirds away from
bird feeders.

Occurrence in
North America
Shiny Cowbirds have been
reported from 13 states and
provinces (Figure 14).The first
individual in the ABA Area was
found at Lower Matecumbe Key,
Florida, from 14 June to late July
1985. The following year, in July
1986, three males were photographed nearby at Islamorada
(Smith and Sprunt 1987). Birds
reached the Florida mainland at
Flamingo in 1987, and were
found as far north as St.
Petersburg and Jacksonville in
1988 (Post et al. 1993). Florida
reports continued to increase
rapidly, with single-day totals of
up to 44 birds at Key West and
52 at Dry Tortugas National
Park in spring 1989 (Langridge
1989). That same year, Shiny
Cowbirds were observed in the
Florida Panhandle, as well as in
Georgia, Louisiana, North
Carolina, and South Carolina.
First-state reports were obtained
for Alabama (at least 4 1 birds!),
Oklahoma, and Texas in 1990,
and Maine and Mississippi in
1991 (Post et al. 1993). In
August 1993, a male cowbird
was photographed in New
Brunswick (Benoit 1995), the
first and only report so far for
Canada. Tennessee's first Shiny
Cowbird was a male in July
1995 (Purrington 1995), followed by Virginia's first in fall
1996 (Iliff 1997). A male in
Yucatan, Mexico, in May 1996
(Kluza 1998) is the first Middle
American report outside of
Panama. In July 1999, 18 Shiny
Cowbirds were found at
BIRDING. DECEMBER 2000

Savannah Spoil Site, South

Carolina (P.W. Sykes in Davis
1999), which represents the
largest number of individuals yet
reported along the Atlantic coast.
Thirteen of these cowbirds were
collected, and the remaining five
disappeared on their own. In the
summer of 2000, Shiny Cowbirds were again found in this
area, but the number of individuals was ~ n u c hsmaller than the
year before (P.W. Sykes, pers.
comm.).
Figure 1 5 sunmarizes Shiny
Cowbird reports by year and
state/province, revised and updated from Mlodinow and O'Brien
(1996). I have excluded eight or
nine Texas reports in 1994 that
were submitted to the National

Figure 1 7. This first-year

male Shiny Cowbird, captured in a trap in the
Wichita Mountains,
Oklahoma, on 12 june
1990, documents the
westernmost occurrence to
date of the Shiny Cowbird
in the ABA Area.The brown
feathering on the breast
and flonks-characteristic
of this plumage-is conspicuous at close range
but may not be visible
from a distance. Out of
direct sunlight, the
plumage is less iridescent
This photograph affords an
excellent look at the bill,
which is less conical than
those of Brown-headed
and Bronzed Cowbirds.

Audubon Society Field Notes

regional editors without documentation (Lasley et al. 1994).
Through 31 December 1999,
there have been 246 reports of
959 Shiny Cowbirds in the ABA
Area. Florida accounts for 64
percent of the reports and 8 2
percent of the individuals.
Alabama is the only other state
that accounts for any significant
number of Shiny Cowbirds, with
6 percent of the individuals, As a
means of determining the degree
to which Shiny Cowbirds may
threaten our breeding passerines,
I have also segregated out the
reports from April through July
(Figure 16), the months that represent the nesting season for
most North American passerines.
ABA-Area totals for these
months are 169 reports of 560
individuals. Florida again
accounts for a majority of the
reports (61 percent) and individuals (74 percent). Alabama
accounts for 11 percent of the
individuals reported, while South
Carolina accounts for 6 percent.
During its first five years in the
SHINY COWBIRD

JOEGRZYBOWSKI

ABA Area (1985-1989) the Shiny

Cowbird rapidly invaded coastal
areas of Florida. The number of
individuals reported increased
markedly every year, and the first
reports from other southeastern
states occurred in 1989 (Figure
15).In 1990, numbers in Florida
were much reduced from the previous year, but Alabama saw a
substantial invasion. By 1995,
Shiny Cowbirds had reached a
total of a dozen states, and one
bird even made it to Canada, but
numbers in the Southeast
remained low. Since 1985, the
mean number of Shiny Cowbirds
reported in Florida from April
through July is 2 7 individuals
annually (Figure 16). Elsewhere,
Shiny Cowbirds have been
reported fairly frequently during
those months only in Alabama,
Louisiana, and the Carolinas,
with sporadic reports from other
states. Usually only one to three
birds are reported annually in

any state outside of Florida

(Figure 15). Since 1996, no new
state or province has been invaded, and cowbird occurrences in
Florida and elsewhere have
remained virtually restricted to
coastal areas. Where these birds
go after they "disappear" from
coastal areas has not been determined. Shiny Cowbirds winter
regularly in the ABA Area only
in the southern half of the
Florida peninsula (Post et al.
1993), a fact which suggests that
climate may be a limiting factor
in their occurrence in North
America-at least outside the
breeding season.

Conclusions
Within a few years of its debut in
Florida, most observers would
have agreed that the Shiny
Cowbird would soon be possible
anywhere in the ABA Area, and
many attempted to estimate the
speed at which cowbirds would
523

possible anywhere
spread across the United States.
Kaufman (1990) predicted that
they would reach-~alifornia
before 1995, based on a single
bird captured at Fort Hood, X
Texas, in May 1990. However,:::::- --..
in the past 10 years only one 2
Shiny Cowbird has been found?'
farther west than Fort Hood,
and that bird was captured in "'
Oklahoma in June 1990 ( ~ i ~ u r 17).The fact is that today, 15
vears after its discovery in t b
kBA Area, the Shiny Cowb
resident in small numbers ir
souther] lorida and rar
where.
What must you do ro see a
Shiny Cowbird? Since the mid1990s, all reliable sites have been
in Florida. In spring and summer,
birds are reported annually from
Dry Tortugas National Park, Key
West, and Flamingo. In winter,
Shiny Cowbirds are found most
readily at Briggs Nature Center
south of Naples, with other individuals usually present at Key
Vest and Homestead. Many
observations have been at bird
feeders, especially during the
winter months, or in suburban
areas along roads and on lawns
(Post et al. 1993, Stevenson and
Anderson 1994). In countries
where they are common, Shiny
Cowbirds sometimes forage with
livestock. They frequently associate with other icterids, so scan
carefully through flocks of blackbirds and Brown-headed
Cowbirds. Look sharply; Shiny
Cowbirds can easily be missed.
Is this still a species to be
expected nearly any place in the
U.S. or Canada? Probably not, if
one considers only the pattern of
occurrences in the past decade.
But the long-range outlook may
be different. A tendency for
range expansions, enabled by
brood parasitism, appears to be

---

e
-

1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st

Jan Jan Feb Feb War Mar Apr

2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st

Apr May May Jun Jun Jul

2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd
Jul Aug Aug Sep Sep Oct Ocl Nov Nav Dec Dec

:igure 18. Numbers of Shiny Cowbird reports (gray bars) and individuals (black bars) in the
M A Area, through December 1999, are charted by the date of first observation and arranged
~yhalf-month intervals. Reports that did not specify a date are excluded, although observaions "early" or "late" in a month are included in the appropriate column. Note the huge influ~fShiny Cowbirds from mid-April through the end of May, a trend also apparent-though far
~ s sdramatically-in the number of reports. The increase of individuals beginning in midh o b e r reflects Shiny Cowbirds returning to wintering areas in southern Florida. "Increases" z L
iom mid-December through earlyjanuary mostly represent an observer bias from Christmasm--'
)ird Counts.

I cowbird trait. Molecular evilence indicates that the grackles

md their allies-the subgroup of
cterids to which cowbirds
~elong--evolved in North and
l/liddie America and the z-z
.-.,
Zaribbean (Johnson and Lanyon
1999). Except for the cowbirds,
111 the species within this group
Oemain restricted to those areas,
md none is an obligate brood
Jarasite. In contrast, Screaming,
Siant, and Shiny Cowbirds pre;umably colonized South
4merica in the remote past.
jhiny and Brown-headed
zowbirds also have expanded
:heir ranges aggressively in his:orical times, in response to ha bi:at alterations by humans, as
lave Bronzed Cowbirds to a less:r degree. Shiny Cowbirds appar:ntly are still increasing in Cuba,
:he Bahamas, and Panama. As
~opulationsincrease, so does the
Jotential for renewed northward
:xpansion, heralded by the spike
n annual arrivals of this species
-.A

in the ABA Area in late April

and May (Figure 18). Perhaps it
is only a matter of time before
the Shiny Cowbird is indeed possible anywhere on the North
American continent.

Acknowledgments
I thank Lyn Atherton, Wes Biggs,
Greg Jackson, Larry Manfred;, Kurt
Radamaker, Paul Sykes, Eddie
Ventosa, Rick West, and Glen
Woolfenden for relating their field
observations, and Terry Moore,
lMichael Patten, and Will Post for
other information. Bruce Anderson
Mike Delany, Don Forrester, MarkOberle, and Glen Woolfenden pro-:
vided references or helped t r a. c c
down photographs, and Holly
aLove11 assisted with library work. I
am most grateful to Bruce
Anderson, Jon Dunn, Greg Jackson,
Peter Lowther, Doug McNair, Steve
Mlodinow, P. William Smith, and
Noel Warner for greatly improving
(way too many) drafts of the manuscript. For support, I thank Mike
Delany and staff a t Avon Park Air
Force Range.

^--

BIRDING. DECEMBER 2000

Literature Cited
American Ornithologists' Union. 2000.
Forty-second supplement to the
A~ncricanOrnithologists' Union
Check-list of North American blrds.
Arrk 117: 847-858.
Baicich, P.J., and C.J.O. Harrison.
1997. A Guide to the Nests, Eggs,
aird Nestliitgs of N o ~ t hAnterican
Birds. 2d ed. Academic Press, San
Diego.
Benoit, G. 1995. A day to remember:

first Shiny Cowbird in Canada.

Birders Jorrrnal4: 230-231.
Blake, E.R. 1968. Family Icteridae. 111
R.A. Paynter, Jr., ed. Checklist of
Birds of the \VorId. v.14. Museum
of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
University.
Cruz, A., W. Post, J.W. Wiley, C.P.
Ortega, T.K. Nakamura, and L.W.
Prather. 1998. Potential impacts of
cowbird range expansion in Florida.
In S.I. Rothstein and S.K. Robinson,
eds. Parasitic Birds and Their Hosts:

Strrdies in Coeuoltrtion. Oxford

University Press.
Davis, R. 1999. Southern Atlantic
Coast region. North Anzerican Birds
53: 375-376.
Frkdmann, H. 1929. Tlw Cotubrrds: A
Study in the Biology of Soc~al
Prrr~7sitisnz.C. Thomas Publications.
Springfield, Illinois.
Grzybowski, J.A., and V.W. Fazio 111.
1991. Shiny Cowbird reaches Oklahoma. Aiizerrwrz Birds 45: 50-52.
Iliff, M. 1997. Mid-Atlantic region.

The four Victory models are more than the next generation of Zeiss technology.
They are compact, lightweight, light gathering wonders of optical design.
Thanks to our Advanced Optical System, with a new type of glass that yields exceptional contrast
and overall resolution from thinner, lighter lenses. Victories are waterproof, rugged, and
T H E E V O L U T I O N OF

OPTICS.

backed by a transferable lifetime warranty. Call, write or e-mail for details.