Cornell Birds Q&A: I found a small white hatched eggshell under a mocking bird nest and see the parent mockingbird feeding babies?

Question by howdy ya’ll: I found a small white hatched eggshell under a mocking bird nest and see the parent mockingbird feeding babies?
except mocking bird eggs are bluish grey with speckles and the hatched eggshell I found below the nest is white… could another bird have laid its egg in the mocking birds nest? although mocking birds are quite territorial?

Best answer:

Answer by ~*!¡яαωя¡!*~ *~¡!ωσσƒ¡!~*
Hello,

These are Cowbird eggs. Cowbirds are known for being parasitic birds, meaning they lay their eggs in a different birds nest for the other bird species to raise their babies. They are parasites, really.

They lay them while the parents are away, and the mockingbirds don’t notice the new eggs. So, the parents raise the babies. In some other parasitic birds, like the cuckoo bird, they will kill the other eggs/babies soon after hatching.

It’s a Cowbird’s eggs… they are basically dead beat parents who put their chicks off on other, sweet, devoted parents. That pair of mockingbirds just fell to be a victim of the Cowbird…

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Tags:babies, bird, Birds, Cornell, eggshell, Feeding, found, hatched, Mocking, Mockingbird, nest, parent, small, under, white