Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

What Cuckoos Will Soon Be Up To In My Neck Of The Woods

6/2/2020

0 Comments

 
In a recent post I described the abundance of common cuckoos around my village this year. True to form, the males' famous cu-coo calls continue to fill the air, but in recent days the calls have started to decrease. Every now and then I hear the not-so-famous three tone cuckoo call - cu-coo-coo - which many regard as an indication of spring giving way to summer. I tried to find a recording of the cuckoo's 'changed tune in June', but to no avail.

In any case, I imagine the female cuckoos have already placed their eggs in the nests of other birds. If they haven't, I suspect they will do so very shortly. Apparently, a female cuckoo will place its egg in the nest of the species that reared the female cuckoo itself. Thus, if a female cuckoo was reared by sparrows, it will inevitable place its egg in a sparrow's nest.

Cuckoos are notorious brood parasites, but the behavior of the cuckoo chick after it hatches is truly something to behold. Immediately after hatching, the cuckoo chick systematically eliminates whatever competition it happens to find. If it hatches early enough, it pushes the other eggs out of the nest (as the short video below shows). If it hatches at the same time as or slightly later than the host  hatchlings, it will doggedly eject its step brothers and sisters from the nest until none remain, thereby ensuring that it alone will be the sole beneficiary of its hosts incessant feeding.

The cuckoo chick in the video reminded me of Sisyphus; however, unlike Sisyphus, the cuckoo chick's efforts ultimately proved fruitful, at least for it. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.