Brown-headed Cowbird Egg

KO-404 $26.00

(Acrylic stand included)

The brown-headed cowbird's genus name Molothrus is Latin for "intruder." It is an obligate brood parasite, which means it lays eggs only in nests of other species and leaves its young to be raised by the host of the nest. It lays one egg at a time but over the season can lay up to 40 eggs, more than any other wild bird. When it lays an egg in the nest, it often removes an egg laid by the unsuspecting host. The cowbird also often has a shorter incubation time than the young of the host species and so is a stronger competitor for food. This parasitism plays a role in the declining populations of some host species. View our North American Bird Egg Collection.

As with all Bone Clones® products, only the finest casting materials are used to cast our North American bird egg series. Our expert artists paint each with meticulous care to match the eggs that were used in the casting process. Each egg is hand painted with permanent dyes and sealed with a resistant coating that makes it ideal for handling, study, teaching, as well as for display. In nature, eggs vary from region to region as well as from bird to bird. The colors and patterns used were determined by the egg used as well as reference material to find a happy medium that would be representative of the species.