Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Articles

Vol. 25 No. 1 (1994)

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS OF HEAD-DOWN DISPLAYS BY BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS

Submitted
September 16, 2025
Published
January 1, 1994

Abstract

Cowbirds sometimes appear to solicit preening both intra- and interspecifically; this head-down preening-invitation display has been well described by Chapman (1928), Selander and La Rue (1961), Selander (1964), Rothstein (1980), and Post and Wiley (1992). A Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), for example, will approach another bird, point its bill downward, and freeze, presenting the crown and nape area.

References