Giant Cowbird

Sightings
This was the only Giant Cowbird Molothrus oryzivorus which we recorded on our tour to Trinidad and Tobago. It was standing quietly on a large branch in the Forest Reserve in Tobago and close to the main road which runs through the reserve.

Species
It is a species associated with open woodland and cultivation with large trees, but is also the only cowbird that is found in deep forest. It is a quiet bird, particularly for an icterid, but the male has an unpleasant screeched whistle, shweeaa-tpic-tpic. The call is a sharp chek-chik. They are also very adept mimics. Like other cowbirds, it is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of oropendolas and caciques. This gregarious bird feeds mainly on insects, and some seeds including rice, and forages on the ground or in trees.

Status and Distribution
Giant Cowbird is a species of least concern with a decreasing population in its large range of nearly seventeen million square kilometres. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It may have relatively recently colonised the latter islands where it is a locally common resident on Trinidad preferring open savannas and pastures; on Tobago, it is found on scrubby hillsides.

References
BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 250.

Photograph
The photograph was taken in low forest light at 1/400th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 1600.