Shiny cowbird
Molothrus bonariensis (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
The shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) is a species in the family Icteridae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 34.1 g to 41.5 g and live up to 5 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the shiny cowbird
- Weight
- 34.1 g – 41.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 5 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- woodlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 11.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the shiny cowbird
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the shiny cowbird live?
Not recorded
What is the shiny cowbird?
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 cowbird's 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 from agriculture and deforestation.
Adults are sexually dimorphic. Males are all black with a purple-blue iridescence. The female is smaller, with dull brown plumage that is sometimes paler on the underparts. Females of the species can be distinguished from the female brown-headed cowbird by their longer, finer bills and flatter heads. The shiny cowbird's diet consists mainly of insects, other arthropods and seeds, and they have been recorded foraging for grains in cattle troughs.
Like most other cowbirds, it is an obligate brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of many other bird species such as the rufous-collared sparrow. Different host species show different responses to their nests being parasitised, with behaviours ranging from accepting and caring for the cowbird eggs, to rejecting the eggs from the nest. As the shiny cowbird is an effective generalist brood parasite, it can be considered the South American counterpart to the brown-headed cowbird.
From the Wikipedia article “Shiny cowbird” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shiny_cowbird&oldid=1380704969), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the shiny cowbird endangered?
The shiny cowbird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the shiny cowbird classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyIcteridae
- genusMolothrus
- SpeciesMolothrus bonariensis (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
Synonyms Tanagra bonariensis
Other names and names in other languages (47)
- Glossy cowbirdEnglish
- شحرور البقر اللماعArabic
- شُحرُور البَقر اللمَّاعArabic
- vaquer negreCatalan
- vlhovec modrolesklýCzech
- aderyn gwartheg gloywWelsh
- SilkekostærDanish
- GlanzkuhstärlingGerman
- SeidenkuhstärlingGerman
- glacea bovikteroEsperanto
- MorajúSpanish
- Chamón comúnSpanish
- Chamón parásitoSpanish
- MirloSpanish
- Pájaro VaqueroSpanish
- Tordo comúnSpanish
- Tordo lustrosoSpanish
- Tordo renegridoSpanish
- Tordo SudamericanoSpanish
- vaquero brillosoSpanish
- Vaquero MirloSpanish
- hohtoturpiaaliFinnish
- Vacher luisantFrench
- blistavi čvorkašCroatian
- kékfejű gulyajáróHungarian
- Vaccaro splendenteItalian
- テリバネコウウチョウJapanese
- paprastasis karvapaukštisLithuanian
- GlanskoevogelDutch
- silketrupialNorwegian
- Par Vakero LustrosoPapiamento
- Parha Vakero LustrosoPapiamento
- starzyk granatowyPolish
- ChupimPortuguese
- AnumaráPortuguese
- chupim-vira-bostaPortuguese
- vaqueiro-reluzentePortuguese
- Vira-bostaPortuguese
- Блестящий трупиалRussian
- Блестящий коровий трупиалRussian
- zanášač kravskýSlovak
- Sjajna kravaricaSerbian
- glanskostareSwedish
- Parlak inekkuşuTurkish
- вашер синійUkrainian
- 紫輝牛鸝Chinese
- 紫辉牛鹂Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the shiny cowbird
Other species in the same genus Molothrus.
Brown-headed cowbird
Molothrus ater
Screaming cowbird
Molothrus rufoaxillaris
Bronzed cowbird
Molothrus aeneus
Giant cowbird
Molothrus oryzivorus
Bronze-brown cowbird
Molothrus armenti
CompareShiny cowbird vs Brown-headed cowbirdShiny cowbird vs Screaming cowbirdShiny cowbird vs Bronzed cowbirdShiny cowbird vs Giant cowbird
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the shiny cowbird?
An adult shiny cowbird weighs 34.1 g – 41.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the shiny cowbird endangered?
The shiny cowbird is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the shiny cowbird live?
The shiny cowbird has a recorded lifespan of 5 years.
What kind of animal is the shiny cowbird?
The shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) belongs to the family Icteridae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/shiny-cowbird
“Shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/shiny-cowbird.
@misc{shiny_cowbird_2026,
title = {Shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/shiny-cowbird},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}