MDI Birds
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    Brown-headed Cowbird / Molothrus ater

    : Breeds. Apr-Aug throughout with the exception of the interior of large unbroken forest tracts.

    : early/mid Mar to mid Apr and mid Aug to late Oct with from mid Feb and to early Dec.

    : No record other than as noted below.

    Miscellany: Cowbirds like most blackbirds are largely diurnal migrants, and a series of warm days with southerly airflows anywhere from late Feb to mid Mar will send the first wave, usually adult males, north. They often arrive to snow and cold, and end up at bird feeding stations.

    It isn't clear why cowbirds wintered here in numbers from the 1960s through the 1980s - some CBCs had multiple hundreds - with diminishing numbers to the early 1990s...,and then disappeared. With the exception of one on the 2017 and 2020 Schoodic CBC, there have been no records on either the MDI or Schoodic CBCs since 1994.

    Last Updated: April 25th, 2022