Does Anyone Know how to get rid of Brownheaded Cowbirds?

[straight_stewie]

I live on a rather large plot of land, and I like to attract wildlife just to watch it. I have maintained an excellent bird population (for my area anyways) for a while now. However, for the last two years some brownheaded cowbirds have moved in.

Be aware that the cowbirds are not aggressive, but they lay eggs in other birds nests, pushing the other birds eggs out. This has severely damaged my cardinal and bluebird populations. I went from having multiple "families" to maybe seeing one or two birds of each type every few days. I need a way to get rid of the cowbirds, but I don't want to resort to the pellet gun. Does anyone have a way to get rid of them that won't also push away my other birds or wildlife (which primarily includes deer and squirrel).

@Energycore?

[dizmo]

Patience and a .22.

[straight_stewie]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Patience and a .22.

That's the route I'm hoping to avoid, but I don't think there is any avoidance besides capture and release. Unfortunately I don't think that Cowbird stew would be any good.

[Energycore]

Thanks for the mention! Unfortunately I'm more of a watcher and less of an ornithologist, though I do recognize the problem with cowbirds stealing others' nests.

 

If you have a population of mockingbirds, I do know that these eventually learn how to tell which egg is real and which isn't, which mitigates the problem for that species though not so for others.

 

My recommendation is that you look for a birdwatching group in your area, and then there ask since they'll probably know someone who can help.

 

Cheers!

[Drak3]

Spoiler

Varmint huntin' time.