Whoa! That's one BIG BABY you've got there!

Sometimes when you don’t look like your parents, it’s because you are not really remotely RELATED to your parents!

Such is the case here.

Meet a cowbird juvenile (see below).  He is LARGE and has a very unusual sound that it emits which is the cowbird equivalent of "FEED ME!".

 The things about cowbirds is … their shady behavior.  The cowbird will lay their egg  among the eggs of a completely DIFFERENT SPECIES of bird and then pretty much say…”Hasta La Vista Baby Cowbird!” and leave the egg/baby bird to be raised by foster parent birds!

 In THIS case, it appears that the egg of this big cowbird baby was hatched by a tiny chipping sparrow!

It’s an amazing sight to see – this teeny little chipping sparrow bringing food to its HUGE cow bird child!

JUST A MONTH AGO I WITNESSED THE SAME THING - ONLY IT WAS A CARDINAL FAMILY TAKING CARE OF AND FEEDING A COWBIRD BABY!  It's truly a "WOW-THAT'S JUST CRAZY' thing to witness!

I've read quite a bit about this unethical cowbird deadbeat behavior and it leaves me with several questions...

What happens to the foster birds OWN EGGS AND BABIES?

Does the cowbird take on the eating habits and behavior of it's foster parent?

Later in life, does the cowbird find more cowbirds and start acting and behaving like a cowbird...including laying it's own eggs in the nest of a different species of bird?

If raised in a nice family environment of another species of bird...does the cowbird learn the value of ethical behavior when it comes to raising a family?