Grayish Baywing

Fascinating facts about the Grayish Baywing

• A 19 cm (7 in) bird that weighs about 46 g in males and 42 g in females inhabits open woodlands, savannas, scrublands, pastures, agricultural lands and suburban areas in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It is found from sea level up to 2,900 m (9,500 ft) in Bolivia and could occur as high as 3,350 m (11,000 ft), showing it can use habitats from lowland pastures to high-altitude scrub. It uses a variety of cavities for nesting, including woodpecker holes, abandoned ovenbird mud nests and nest boxes, demonstrating a flexible breeding strategy that allows it to occupy human-altered landscapes.
• During the breeding season, a single clutch averages four grayish-white eggs, and the female incubates them for 13–14 days; the chicks fledge 12–16 days after hatching.
• When the early breeding season arrives, greyish baywings forage alone or in pairs, but later they form flocks of up to about 25 individuals.
• The species is the primary, almost exclusive, host for the screaming cowbird, a brood parasite that lays its eggs in baywing nests, and both parents and helpers help guard the nest.
• The IUCN lists the bird as Least Concern because it has a very large range; its population size is unknown but is believed to be stable, and it is described as common to frequent in Brazil and common elsewhere.

At a glance

About the Grayish Baywing

The greyish baywing (Agelaioides badius) is a modest-sized icterid, measuring about 19 cm (7 in) from tip to tail. Males tip the scales at roughly 46 g, females at 42 g, and both sexes share a uniform plumage that blends grayish-buffy brown on the head, neck, and upperparts with striking blackish lores and ear coverts. Olive-brown uppertail coverts give way to a dark olive-brown tail, while the wings display a mosaic of sandy, rufous, and blackish tones, each feather edged in subtle chestnut. Dark eyes, a black bill, and black legs complete the understated yet elegant appearance. In the open woodlands, savannas, scrublands, pastures and even suburban gardens of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the baywing moves as a year-round resident, ranging from sea level up to 1 000 m in the nominate form and as high as 2 900 m, potentially 3 350 m, in the A. b. bolivianus population. Its diet is opportunistic, pulling insects from leaf litter and snatching seeds of wild plants and cultivated crops such as corn and rice. Early in the breeding season the birds forage alone or in pairs, later gathering in noisy flocks of up to 25. A surprising social twist emerges at the nest: the species is a cooperative breeder, with helpers, often previous offspring, assisting parents in feeding and guarding the clutch, while simultaneously serving as the primary host for the brood-parasitic screaming cowbird.

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