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Cowbird Control
Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of songbirds and let the songbirds raise their young. For several reasons this leads to the death of song bird chicks, and a decline in adult populations of song birds. Cow bird trapping programs remove cow birds from the environment which increases the success of song bird nesting.
TOWMA maintains an inventory of cow bird traps that are made available to landowners, and files reports to TPWD annually on the success of the program The TOWMA Cowbird Initiative provided fifty traps throughout member WMAs and trained/licensed their operators. The traps have resulted in large numbers of cowbirds being removed from the landscape with a noticeable corresponding increase in songbird production.
TOWMA took on the Brown-headed Cowbird Trapping initiative as a project following a wildlife function attended in 2002 by our Directors Emeritus. Jack Holman had learned of a successful trapping program used at Fort Hood to capture and dispatch cowbirds that were flocking in that area. The trapping program was credited by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as having an impact in preventing the demise of the Black Capped Vireo, a small bird that nests on Fort Hood property.TOWMA’s Advisory Board agreed that a project like this would be of interest to our member WMAs not only for relieving the stress on songbird reproduction, but also for helping landowners feeding their livestock.
TOWMA contacted the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) about different ways traps could be built. LCRA volunteered not only their expertise in how to build, but also provided the materials for all 46 traps TOWMA now operates. LCRA also assembled some traps in their Smithville Rail Shop. Supervisors and employees really got into the project and found local High Schools willing to assemble some of the traps as a shop project.
When the project began, cowbirds were wrongly thought by many to be the white birds seen in pastures around and on cattle. These are cattle egrets and not cowbirds. Cowbirds are totally black and the males have a brown head. They are about the size of a cardinal and are very common in rural Texas.
The history of the cowbird goes back to times when Texas had large expanses of open prairie and buffalo herds grazing, always on the move. To keep up with the buffalo, birds had to move off and leave their nests and young. Nature had a way of helping the cowbirds find a solution for their chicks. Why not lay an egg in a nest of another bird and let them raise the chick? Lots of buffalo, lots of cowbirds, equal a lot of songbird nests receiving a cowbird chick along the route.
The cowbird chick grows a little faster than most other chicks. The female will give her egg a little head start by pecking or shoving out of the nest one or more of the nester’s eggs. With a female cowbird laying up to 40 eggs a season, 40 nests could wind up with cowbirds or cowbird siblings. Cowbirds were older and ready earlier for their stepmom and dad’s grub. Bigger is better and therefore more likely to get fed more.
The buffalo was eliminated from the land by market hunters; however, cowbirds were still there. Cattle pastures have big flocks that swoop down and pick seed from the hay and cover feed troughs soon after the rancher puts feed out. The bird droppings cause the feed to be contaminated and the potential of all kinds of bad things can come from this contamination. Texas cattlemen have worked towards controlling cowbirds for years.
TOWMA redesigned the traps to be more portable than those the ranchers and Fort Hood had designed. TOWMA traps can fit into the back of a standard pick up and though they weigh almost 150 pounds, can be loaded by one person. This design helps in re-assigning traps when a trapper wants to take a little time off.
TOWMA focused their cowbird trapping efforts on specific areas to help restore songbirds in depleted areas. Our trappers report that they have seen increases in birds like the cardinal and painted bunting. Many of our traps are near bird feeders. Some are in back yards in towns. Some of our largest catches have been in wooded areas. The cowbirds come to the nests of other birds, and as freeloaders dependent upon other birds, they must go where bird nests are found.
Our program requires a trapper to report their dispatches on a weekly basis by calling or emailing information to a central data collection point. All kinds of reporting methods are used, phone, and fax included. The trapper agrees to bring the trap back to the main storage area when he or she no longer plans to trap or if no one else in his WMA or nearby WMA will be using it for a season. The traps are the responsibility of the trapper and must be repaired if damaged, placed up off the ground to prevent rust in the winter and/or stored in a barn.
For members interested in trapping brown-headed cowbirds, a trapper must be certified by TPWD for cowbird trapping. This course is usually presented in February by a local TPWD biologist. The trap waiting list is updated continuously and as traps become available, they are re-assigned. Currently the 46 traps are located in 14 counties and assigned to 29 different WMAs.
Many of the trappers are reporting more songbirds and some returning residents.
The trapping results (cowbirds eliminated) for 14 South Central Texas counties for a few past years are: 2004, 1909 cowbirds; 2005, 4210 cowbirds; 2006, 2375 cowbirds; 2007, 2268 cowbirds. That is a total of 10,762 cowbirds in just 4 years.
More information on cowbird trapping is contained in the Texas Parks & Wildlife Booklet HERE