“Take My Baby,” The Astonishing Behavior of Utah Birds

Deadbeat Parent Birds 

Some birds practice something called brood parasitism which is a strategy of getting other birds to take on the cost and work of raising their young. Cowbirds and cuckoos are two kinds of birds known for doing this, but there are many other birds who do it as well. 

It is pretty simple, lay an egg in another bird's nest and let them keep it warm and feed it when it is born. Sometimes they will do it to birds of their own species and other times they will put it in an unrelated bird. This dirty trick seems unbird like and more something you might expect from a human. 

The Back and Forth Strategies are Fascinating 

These baby birds dropped in another nest will sometimes hatch and quickly push any other eggs out of the nest. Some are bigger and grab all the food. But don’t weep for the tricked birds, they have come up with their own strategies of stopping these deadbeat parents. 

The host birds have learned to destroy eggs that don’t look right. They also can detect an imposter using sound waves or even detecting the parasites on the shell. In this case they will peck a hole in the shell or push it out. 

Read More: These Tiny Birds Seen in the Washington Fields Area Can Learn to Talk

In response, the trickster birds have developed eggs with thicker shells and designed them to look the same color as the other eggs. This seems way too intelligent for bird brains. It is amazing that they keep coming up with new strategies.

It also seems humanlike to try and figure out how to get someone else to do your work for you. Maybe they are paying too much attention and doing more than just copying what we say.