What Do Cardinal Eggs Look Like? There are a few ways to identify Northern cardinal eggs. First, look at their general color. The eggs of these birds come in hues of off-white, such as grayish white ...

Cowbird mothers abandon their eggs in the nests of other bird species, but the chicks somehow manage to find their flock and ...

Cowbird eggs usually hatch first, and the chicks grow quickly, enabling them to outcompete the host's chicks. There's a theory that the blue hue of eggs helps host birds pick out foreign eggs ...

Photo courtesy of Tom Tatum Some would-be hosts of the cowbird eggs take matters into their own hands. While most host species are unable to distinguish cowbird eggs from their own, some do.

While most host species are unable to distinguish cowbird eggs from their own, some do. Larger species are often able to puncture the cowbird egg or nudge it out of the nest.

Photo courtesy of Tom Tatum Some would-be hosts of the cowbird eggs take matters into their own hands. While most host species are unable to distinguish cowbird eggs from their own, some do.

Photo courtesy of Tom Tatum Some would-be hosts of the cowbird eggs take matters into their own hands. While most host species are unable to distinguish cowbird eggs from their own, some do.

Hauber introduced fake, 3D-printed eggs into the nests of American robins (Turdus migratorius); the eggs were painted robin blue or the beiges and browns of a parasitic cowbird’s egg.

One species that gets a bad rap, through no fault of its own, is the brown-headed cowbird. The female cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other species and then leaves forever.

One species that gets a bad rap, through no fault of its own, is the brown-headed cowbird. The female cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other species and then leaves forever.

One species that gets a bad rap, through no fault of its own, is the brown-headed cowbird. The female cowbird lays its eggs in the nests of other species and then leaves forever.

Free of the responsibility of defending a nest, incubating eggs and feeding young, cowbirds have more time and energy to forage, mate and produce many eggs. There are no advantages to the host parents ...