Cuckoo
The (Common) Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. The species' name is derived from the Latin cuculus (the cuckoo) and canorus (melodious, derived from canere meaning to sing). The cuckoo family gets its common name and genus name by onomatopoeia for the call of the male (Common) Cuckoo.
There are 4 subspecies worldwide. C. c. canorus, the nominate subspecies, occurs widely as a summer migrant from the UK through Scandinavia, north Russia and Siberia to Japan in the east and from the Pyrenees through Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, north China and Korea. Birds arrive in Europe in April and leave in September. It winters in Africa and south Asia. Although the Cuckoo's global population appears to be declining, it is classified of being of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Cuckoo is 13 inches long from bill to tail with a tail of 5 to 6 inches and a wingspan of 22 to 24 inches. The legs are short. It is greyish in colour with a slender body and long tail and can be mistaken for a falcon in flight. During the breeding season, Cuckoos often settle on an open perch with drooped wings and raised tail.
All adult males are slate-grey and the grey throat extends well down the bird's breast with a sharp demarcation to the barred underparts. The iris, orbital ring, the base of the bill and feet are yellow. Grey morph adult females have a pinkish-buff or buff background to the barring and neck sides and sometimes small rufous spots on the median and greater coverts and the outer secondary feathers. Rufous morph adult females have reddish-brown upperparts with dark grey or black bars. Cuckoos in their first autumn have variable plumage. Some are have strongly-barred chestnut-brown upperparts while others are plain grey.
The male Cuckoo's song is usually given from an open perch. During the breeding season the male typically gives this vocalisation with intervals of 1 to 1.5 seconds in groups of 10 to 20 seconds with a rest of a few seconds between groups. The female has a loud bubbling call. The wings are drooped when calling intensely. When in the vicinity of a potential female, the male often wags its tail from side to side or the body may pivot from side to side.
The Cuckoo's diet consists of insects, with hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds, being a specialty of preference. It also occasionally eats eggs and chicks.
The Cuckoo is a brood parasite i.e. it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. At the appropriate moment, the female Cuckoo flies down to the host's nest, pushes one egg out of the nest, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season.
More than 100 host species have been recorded: Meadow Pipit, Dunnock and Reed Warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; Garden Warbler, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Robin in central Europe; Brambling and Common Redstart in Finland; and Great Reed Warbler in Hungary. Female Cuckoos are divided in to groups favouring a particular host species' nest and laying eggs that match those of that species in colour and pattern. As the Cuckoo evolves to lay eggs that better imitate the host's eggs, the host species adapts and is more able to distinguish the Cuckoo egg.
The naked Cuckoo chick hatches after 11 to 13 days when it methodically evicts all host chicks from the nest. The Cuckoo chick is a much larger bird than its host’s chicks and it needs to monopolize the food supplied by the parents. The chick will roll the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them with its back over the edge. If the host's eggs hatch before the Cuckoo's, the Cuckoo chick will push the other chicks out of the nest in a similar way. At 14 days old, the Cuckoo chick is about 3 times the size of an adult Reed Warbler. Cuckoo chicks fledge about 17 to 21 days after hatching, compared to 12 to 13 days for Reed Warblers. If the female cuckoo is out-of-phase with a clutch of the host’s eggs, she will eat them all so that the hosts are forced to start another brood.
Date: 13th May 2016
Location: Virtsu to Paatsalu, Estonia
There are 4 subspecies worldwide. C. c. canorus, the nominate subspecies, occurs widely as a summer migrant from the UK through Scandinavia, north Russia and Siberia to Japan in the east and from the Pyrenees through Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, north China and Korea. Birds arrive in Europe in April and leave in September. It winters in Africa and south Asia. Although the Cuckoo's global population appears to be declining, it is classified of being of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Cuckoo is 13 inches long from bill to tail with a tail of 5 to 6 inches and a wingspan of 22 to 24 inches. The legs are short. It is greyish in colour with a slender body and long tail and can be mistaken for a falcon in flight. During the breeding season, Cuckoos often settle on an open perch with drooped wings and raised tail.
All adult males are slate-grey and the grey throat extends well down the bird's breast with a sharp demarcation to the barred underparts. The iris, orbital ring, the base of the bill and feet are yellow. Grey morph adult females have a pinkish-buff or buff background to the barring and neck sides and sometimes small rufous spots on the median and greater coverts and the outer secondary feathers. Rufous morph adult females have reddish-brown upperparts with dark grey or black bars. Cuckoos in their first autumn have variable plumage. Some are have strongly-barred chestnut-brown upperparts while others are plain grey.
The male Cuckoo's song is usually given from an open perch. During the breeding season the male typically gives this vocalisation with intervals of 1 to 1.5 seconds in groups of 10 to 20 seconds with a rest of a few seconds between groups. The female has a loud bubbling call. The wings are drooped when calling intensely. When in the vicinity of a potential female, the male often wags its tail from side to side or the body may pivot from side to side.
The Cuckoo's diet consists of insects, with hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds, being a specialty of preference. It also occasionally eats eggs and chicks.
The Cuckoo is a brood parasite i.e. it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. At the appropriate moment, the female Cuckoo flies down to the host's nest, pushes one egg out of the nest, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season.
More than 100 host species have been recorded: Meadow Pipit, Dunnock and Reed Warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; Garden Warbler, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Robin in central Europe; Brambling and Common Redstart in Finland; and Great Reed Warbler in Hungary. Female Cuckoos are divided in to groups favouring a particular host species' nest and laying eggs that match those of that species in colour and pattern. As the Cuckoo evolves to lay eggs that better imitate the host's eggs, the host species adapts and is more able to distinguish the Cuckoo egg.
The naked Cuckoo chick hatches after 11 to 13 days when it methodically evicts all host chicks from the nest. The Cuckoo chick is a much larger bird than its host’s chicks and it needs to monopolize the food supplied by the parents. The chick will roll the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them with its back over the edge. If the host's eggs hatch before the Cuckoo's, the Cuckoo chick will push the other chicks out of the nest in a similar way. At 14 days old, the Cuckoo chick is about 3 times the size of an adult Reed Warbler. Cuckoo chicks fledge about 17 to 21 days after hatching, compared to 12 to 13 days for Reed Warblers. If the female cuckoo is out-of-phase with a clutch of the host’s eggs, she will eat them all so that the hosts are forced to start another brood.
Date: 13th May 2016
Location: Virtsu to Paatsalu, Estonia
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Also in: Estonia
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