Parasitic cowbirds thrive with a less ruthless strategy than cuckoos
... end of this year. Though reviled by bird lovers, cowbirds have proved spectacularly successful, having expan...sts to see if they could determine why cuckoos and cowbirds use different strategies. Kilner had proposed that, unlike cuckoos, cowbirds suffer when alone in th...ITHACA, N.Y. -- While ornithologists consider cowbirds the parasites of the bird world -- commandeering t...ionary tune. Like the Mick Jaggers of music, male cowbirds attract females by strutting their masculine feather colors or by their singing ability. But the Co...