Constantly thinking about the mystery of the cowbirds
Cowbirds meet up with other cowbirds to learn who they are!
A week or so after fledging they get this "ew I gotta get out of here" vibe when hanging out with their host parents and they start seeking out adult cowbirds. Usually they find females to hang out with and follow her around to learn How To Cowbird.
And the males will practice displaying to each other (a lot of blackbirds may do this? At least I've seen grackles do it too). So that's how the males learn how to be sexy. It's really cute to watch!
Edit: here is the Audubon article link! Thank you to the person (provendermalkin) in the tags who already posted it lol















