Newspaper Page Text
Conservation
Rummage
Looking
Plumage
By WAYNE HANLEY
The Georgia Conservancy, Inc.
They looked like a mob of
college freshmen who had
clothed themselves in the
leftovers of a rummage sale.
But, they were not, of course.
Instead, they were 200 young
cowbirds. The flock had settled
on a small lawn and individual
birds strutted around, almost
to shoulder, searching the grass
for seeds and insects.
The cowbirds all had been
born this summer and they
were in a motley plumage that
those individuals never will
wear again. It was a period of
color transformation. The dull
olive-brown feathers that all
cowbirds wear as they leave
the nest were being replaced.
The females were shifting to
mouse-gray plumage. The
males to feathers of glossy
black on the body and brown on
the head. The change is made a
few feathers at a time, and as a
result the birds were splotched
with blacks and browns or
grays. No two looked the same.
None looked exactly like an
adult cowbird.
It is interesting that while the
birds did not look alike, all
seemed to know that they are
cowbirds. Most humans un
familiar with molting habits of
birds would not have
recognized them as cowbirds.
But, this mutual recognition
among cowbirds of differing
feathers is only a minor
mystery within a much greater
mystery.
It is easy, for instance, for an
English sparrow to recognize
other English sparrows. It had
its parents for a model.
But, a cowbird has a greater
problem. Its parents were
cowbirds, to be sure. It was not,
however, reared by cowbirds.
It may have been incubated
and fed by yellow warblers. For
cowbirds build no nests and the
female cowbird lays her eggs in
the nests of other birds. The
foster parents rear the birds.
And, the young cowbird
remains with the foster parents
until some magical day it
decides that it is a cowbird and
gangs with its own kind.
The most acceptable ex
planation of how cowbirds
come together in youthful
flocks is based on the idea that
the actions of other cowbirds
appeal to them. In other words,
one young cowbird sees another
young cowbird strutting along
and falls in with it. Soon
another sees the two scouting
around in short grass and
decides that’s the life for him.
And so on, up to a few hundred
young cowbirds.
The explanation of how
cowbirds became parasitic
breeders which shift parental
care onto other birds is a little
more complex. Most birds, just
as most humans, get a big kick
out of quieting the demands of a
gaggle of hungry mouths.
Indeed, one may find in
studying birds that many facets
of their lifestyles hinge upon
the breeding period and that
producing young and caring for
them is central to their lives.
Yet the cowbird has developed
a lifestyle that avoids this
culmination of a cycle.
Whatever evolutionary steps
may be involved in making the
cowbird what it is today, the
system served the birds well
when bison ranged the Great
Plains. For the cowbird then
was the buffalo bird. It followed
the wandering bison and
seldom remained in one area
long enough to nest, incubate
and fledge a mess of small
cowbirds. So it gave the job to
others. For more information,
contact the Georgia Con
servancy at 3376 Peachtree
Rd., NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30326
or call 404-262-1967.
i I
-Births j
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Heard,
Route 6, Gumming announce
the birth of a son, Mickey
Larry, born October 23 at
Forsyth County Hospital.
Mrs. Heard is the former
Marsha Ann Cox, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Ezell Cox of
Route 2, Gumming.
Paternal grandparents are
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Heard of
Route 1, Gainesville.
Mr. and Mrs. William Bell,
Route 1, Canton, announce the
birth of a son, Howard Jason,
born October 22 at Forsyth
County Hospital.
Mrs. Bell is the former
Cox, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Rual Cox of Route 1, Canton.
Paternal grandparents are
Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Bell of
Route 3, Dawsonville.
Y LARGE OVEN DRESSED ’l
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TRIMMED & OVERWRAPPED
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REG " VlMi
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THE FUNK a WAGNALLS NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA- VOL 1 -49 f VOL 8- *1.99 EACH
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THE FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS-WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1973-
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