#1405 · 🐦 birds

Shiny Cowbird

🇳🇱 Glanskoevogel ·Molothrus bonariensis

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The shiny cowbird ( Molothrus bonariensis ) is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbirds' range has shifted northward, and it was recorded in the Caribbean islands as well as the United States, where it is found breeding in southern Florida. It is a bird associated with open habitats, including disturbed land...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 24,259iNaturalist observations
weight 40 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
24,259 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 40 g.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 (237 years ago).