Molothrus ater
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or April.
The brown-headed cowbird was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1775 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in the Carolinas. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle, which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783, Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Oriolus ater in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The brown-headed cowbird is now placed in the genus Molothrus that was introduced by English naturalist William Swainson in 1832 with the brown-headed cowbird as the type species. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-headed Cowbird sighting in Boston on a given day, based on 6,464 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 44th most-seen of the 283 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-headed Cowbird in Boston on a given day, against under 5% in August to February, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-headed Cowbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
13th of 36
Of the 36 cities where we can rate Brown-headed Cowbird sightings, Boston ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in León (México, about 30%), Detroit (United States, about 30%) and Chicago (United States, about 30%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Brown-headed Cowbird that you can see in Boston (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Common Grackle (about 50%), Red-winged Blackbird (about 50%) and Baltimore Oriole (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-headed Cowbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Boston (6,464 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
