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Cuckoo cuckoo resounds in the forest far away. Everyone heard him, although few people saw this cautious bird. She's a little bigger. Its plumage is gray with transverse stripes, a long tail and short legs. Cuckoos come to us in the middle of spring and fly away to warm countries at the end of summer.
The cuckoo, the only one of all birds, lays its eggs in other people's nests and never feeds its own chicks. Having laid an egg on the ground, the cuckoo carries it in its beak or paws and puts it in someone else's nest. For her, it does not matter where the nest is located in which the egg should be placed - in an open place or in a hollow. The main thing is to find a bird whose egg color is similar to a cuckoo egg. Seeing the cuckoo, whose striped chest resembles a chest, the birds leave their nests and scatter in all directions.
She only needs this: a nest is immediately found where an egg can be placed. During the summer, each cuckoo resorts to this technique up to 25 times. Small birds hatch and diligently feed their native chicks and the gluttonous foundling cuckoo. It usually happens that, growing up quickly, the cuckoo pushes small chicks out of a cramped nest and remains alone in the nest, and adult birds continue to feed it diligently until it grows up and flies away.
But despite this, cuckoos are one of our most useful birds. The cuckoo is an insectivorous bird and is very voracious. And most importantly - she eats such caterpillars, which, apart from her, other birds do not eat. Indeed, among the caterpillars there are also furry ones. And the cuckoo eats everyone. When a lot of caterpillars appear in the forest that other birds do not eat, cuckoos become indispensable: they destroy these caterpillars. There are times when just a few cuckoos save large areas of the forest from dangerous pests.
These birds live all over the world, avoiding only cold Antarctica. In our country, out of 146 species of cuckoos, only 6 live, and more than half of them prefer the southern regions, especially the south of the Far East.
By the way, most cuckoos breed their own chicks, and only the common cuckoo lays eggs in other people's nests. And yet, the voice of the male is the well-known kuku, and the voice of the female is similar to laughter.
Common Cuckoo is a bird no larger than a jackdaw. The tail of the common cuckoo bird is long, and the wings are pointed. The back of the male is dark gray, and the abdomen is white, with transverse dark stripes, there are white spots on the tail.
Cuckoo - description of the bird, photo and video
The plumage of the female is reddish-brown in color, with transverse dark stripes. During cuckooing, male cuckoos take a characteristic pose: lower their wings down, and meanwhile raise their tail up.
The cuckoo does not build nests and does not incubate eggs, and even more so, it does not feed its chicks and does not educate them. Other birds do it for her, mostly singing small birds.
So it turns out that the cuckoo itself is concerned only with where to find the nests of birds, so that they can then lay their eggs in them. Well, the male actively helps her in this, because it is not for nothing that his appearance is so similar to a bird of prey - a sparrowhawk.
When it appears near the nesting places of songbirds, they, in turn, get scared and leave their nests for some time.
The female common cuckoo lays more than 12 eggs, one in each nest. In size, the cuckoo egg is relatively small, weighing only 3 g, and in color it is very similar to the color of the host eggs.
The cuckoo hatches from the egg 1-2 days earlier than the chicks of the host birds and throws everything that touches its back out of the nest (naturally, these are rival eggs) and then it remains alone with the adoptive parents.
"Parents" do not see the changes that have taken place in the nest. They carry food for the cuckoo: insects, seeds and berries and carefully feed it, and it, in turn, develops and grows rapidly.
Having reached the age of three weeks, the cuckoo leaves the nest, but the foster parents continue to take care of him. They also feed him outside the nest to support him until he learns to find food on his own.
Adult cuckoos feed only on insects, such as hairy caterpillars, which are pests. And since other birds do not eat these caterpillars, the cuckoo birds are considered useful for the forest.
California running cuckoo (Geococcyx californianus).
All members of the family have a characteristic appearance: an elongated, streamlined body with a long stepped tail, long wings. The paws are of medium length, outwardly similar to the paws of passerines, but in fact, the fingers of the cuckoos are directed two forward and two back, so this structure of the paws brings them closer to parrots. The beak of cuckoos can be thin or massive, but at the end it always ends with a sharp hook. Feathers on the head in some species may be slightly elongated and form a short, ruffed crest. The coloration of most species is variegated with a predominance of brown shades, transverse stripes on the wings and belly are often found, some species may be solid black. This coloring is very reminiscent of the coloring of birds of prey - hawks, falcons - and not by accident. The resemblance to hawks is necessary for cuckoos to successfully scare away small birds, which makes it easier for them to throw eggs into other people's nests. Bronze cuckoos have greenish hues and a metallic sheen in their plumage. Sexual dimorphism in some species is not at all pronounced (males and females are the same), in other species, males can be monophonic, and females are variegated. The sizes of cuckoos vary widely from 17-20 to 70 cm in length, the most famous common cuckoo is 40 cm long and weighs 100-120 g.
Male Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).
area various kinds cuckoo covers almost all continents, these birds are not found only in Antarctica and the Arctic. Largest number species lives in Eurasia, North and South America, and their diversity is concentrated in tropical regions. The favorite habitats of cuckoos are deciduous forests, but certain types can also live in open areas - in meadows, wastelands, in bushes and even deserts. Tropical cuckoos are sedentary, while temperate species are migratory. Common cuckoos from Europe fly to Africa, India, South China, the Sunda Islands to winter, the yellow-billed cuckoo from North America flies to Argentina for the winter, and the long-tailed and New Zealand bronze cuckoos (both from New Zealand) fly to the islands to winter Pacific Ocean- Solomon, Marquesas, Marshall, Caroline Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago. When flying, cuckoos cover a distance of 2000 km or more.
The female of the common cuckoo.
Forest species prefer to stay in the upper tiers of the forest, they fly freely between trees and move along branches, some cuckoos can sink to the ground and look for food in the litter. Species living in open areas move mainly on the ground or flit through the branches of shrubs.
A large common spur cuckoo, or Indian cuckal (Centropus sinensis) moves with an unhurried heavy step, it resembles a pheasant with a gait.
The habits of different types of cuckoos are very different. In general, forest species behave more cautiously, they hide in the thick of the forest and try not to reveal their presence in front of a person, the variegated color perfectly disguises the cuckoos among the branches. Those species that do not avoid sparse plantings (for example, the common cuckoo, ani cuckoo) behave more boldly, they can perch on the tops of trees without fear of observers. Finally, California running cuckoos are quite sociable, they easily approach human habitation, get used to his presence, can visit farms, campsites and roadsides in search of food, especially like to accompany vehicles on the move, catching living creatures running out from under the wheels.
The California running cuckoo not only feels confident on the ground, but also runs briskly, reaching speeds of up to 30 km/h!
Cuckoos often live alone and occupy permanent sites. Interestingly, females strictly observe the boundaries of the territory, and males can move within the boundaries of females. The boundaries of the territory of the cuckoo are indicated by sound signals. The voice of an ordinary cuckoo is loud and consists of clearly distinguishable sounds "cuckoo", the very name of the bird is onomatopoeic and sounds similar to most European languages. But few people know that, in reality, cuckoos ... do not cuckoo, or rather, only males cuckoo, but few have ever heard the voice of females, although it sounds no less often. Female cuckoos make sounds similar to "hee hee hee", less often they can meow, bark, chirp. Tropical species of cuckoos make other sounds, but they also contain the syllables "ku", "ko", etc. All types of cuckoos are active only during daylight hours.
The pheasant cuckoo (Centropus phasianinus) is one of the largest species.
Cuckoos are typically insectivorous birds. The diet of most species consists of large spiders, insects (beetles, dragonflies, wasps) and their larvae, caterpillars of various butterflies are especially fond of cuckoos. Interestingly, cuckoos can even eat poisonous and hairy caterpillars, which most birds avoid. Large species are happy to include other types of animal food in their diet, they can eat small snakes, lizards, rodents, eggs and chicks of small birds. The exception is the tropical cuckoo koel, which feeds only on fruits and berries of trees and shrubs. Cuckoos grab their prey from the surface of the earth or branches, occasionally they can catch it on the fly.
Red-bellied bush cuckoo (Phaenicophaeus sumatranus) with prey.
The female Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), the males of this species are blue-black in color.
Ani cuckoos (Crotophaga sulcirostris).
Guira (Guira guira) married couple.
Emerald bronze cuckoo (Chrysococcyx maculatus).
In open nests, cuckoos throw eggs, sitting directly in the nest; in closed nests, they throw previously laid eggs, holding them in their beaks.
Sometimes she is assisted by a male who is nearby. Seeing a male of defiant hawk color, small pichugs rush to meet him and try to drive him away. While the victims rush about in turmoil, the female throws her egg into the nest.
Cuckoo eggs are indistinguishable in color from the eggs of the victim, but if you look closely, you can see that they are slightly larger and more elongated.
Egg of the deaf cuckoo (Versiculus horsfieldi) in the nest of the Siberian Chiffchaff.
Victims have different attitudes towards a thrown egg: some birds do not notice it and continue to incubate it, some notice an extra egg (some species have counting skills) and leave the clutch. To minimize setbacks, cuckoos toss eggs to retrieve one host egg from the nest. The egg is either thrown away or eaten.
Adoptive parents begin to incubate and the first cuckoo hatches in their nest. Cuckoo chicks have very sensitive skin in the hole between the wings. In the first days of life, they show a unique instinct for throwing foreign objects out of the nest. In general, the cuckoo begins to throw eggs from the nest already in the first hours of life, but even in those rare cases when it hatches later than other chicks, it does not stop its mission as a fratricide. Little cuckoo has incredible strength and can throw out an older brother or sister, whose weight is 2-3 times his own! To do this, the cuckoo arranges an egg (chick) in a hole on its back and, resting its wings against the walls of the nest, rises and throws the burden overboard. The whole process takes up to 20 seconds, and with breaks for rest, the cuckoo can get rid of the entire brood in 1-2 hours. Even in those cases when the cuckoo cannot throw an egg, he tries his best to peck it.
A cuckoo chick throws an egg out of a warbler's nest.
Having got rid of its fellows, the cuckoo becomes the only eater in the nest, it grows very quickly. It is the huge need for food that makes the cuckoo get rid of the brothers, because otherwise the small parents would not be able to feed him. If the cuckoo did not manage to get rid of the chicks in the first week of life, then in the future the throwing instinct does not appear in him, as an exception, there are cases when cuckoos grew up together with other chicks in the nests of robins. In a month, the cuckoo grows 30 times and exceeds the size of the adoptive parents! He constantly encourages them to feed, opening his mouth wide and making a trill.
The thrush warbler feeds a cuckoo chick that is many times the size of its foster mother.
Cuckoos cause damage to their victims, depriving them of their own offspring, but this harm is not as great as is commonly thought. Not a single case is known that cuckoos massively reproduced, and their victims also massively reduced their numbers. High mortality is characteristic of all small birds and the contribution of cuckoos to general indicators not so great. The cuckoos themselves are also defenseless against large birds of prey, animals and snakes. In nature, they live an average of 5-10 years.
, how do cuckoos toss eggs and how adoptive parents feed the cuckoo.
A cuckoo is a bird from the subclass neopalatine, the cuckoo family, or cuckoo (lat. Cuculidae). The article provides a description of the family.
The word "cuckoo" comes from the sonorous "cuckoo" pronounced by a bird. Its name is similar in many nations: kukuvitsa - in Bulgaria, kukačka - in the Czech Republic, Kuckuck - in Germany, coucou - in France, cucul - in Romania, cuculo - in Italy, cuckoo - in Great Britain.
Cuckoo - description and photo. What does a cuckoo bird look like?
IN different parts light live, according to various sources, from 140 to 200 representatives of the cuckoo family. The sizes of birds vary from less than 20 cm to 60-70 cm. In most cuckoos, the body length does not exceed 40 cm, and the weight is about 100 g. The maximum weight of the largest cuckoo, the gigantic, is 0.93 kg.
Cuckoo's beak medium size, slightly curved downwards, with smooth edges. Due to the wide cut of the beak, birds can catch insects on the fly, as well as swallow large prey. The eyes of birds are brown, red, yellow, hazel or brown. On the head of some species there is a crest.
The body of birds is thin. The tail is long, but its dimensions do not exceed the length of the wing. It can be stepped or rounded.
The wings of cuckoos are usually long and sharp, but in some species (for example, the ground cuckoo lat. Geococcyx californicus), the wings are short and weak.
The short legs of cuckoos can be yellow, orange, or red. The toes are directed in pairs: the first and fourth - back, the second and third - forward. Although, it happens that the fourth finger is also directed forward.
The plumage of cuckoos is hard, there is little fluff. Feathers on the legs are long, forming "trousers". In coloring there are gray, white, brown, red, rusty and ocher colors.
The body is mostly darker above, while the belly and undertail are lighter or white. Often the plumage is not monophonic, but with mottled, more or less pronounced stripes may be present on the throat and abdomen. Males and females of many species are similar in color.
Cuckoos fly very fast, these birds are very mobile, noisy and voracious. They are in motion almost all the time and sleep little. Some types of cuckoos fly little, but move quickly on the ground.
cuckoo cry
Usually cuckoos make sounds during the mating season. In temperate latitudes, they can be heard in spring and summer. In common cuckoos, the usual "cuckoo" or "cuckoo" is emitted by males. Before cuckooing, which sounds loud and can be heard from a distance, males can make a quiet sound, similar to laughter: “hha-ha-ha”. Birds can cuckoo for a long time, up to 60 times in a row. The voice of the female sounds like a trill: “ke-ke-ke”, “kli-kli-kli”, “bil-bil-bil”. Outside of the mating season, these birds are silent. At different types cuckoo sounds differ: for example, a deaf cuckoo pronounces a deaf “boo-boo-boo-boo” or “doo-doo-doo”, the call of a koel sounds like “kooel”, the larvae ani shouts “ani-ani”, etc.
Where does the cuckoo live?
The habitat of cuckoos covers all continents, with the exception of the Arctic and Antarctic. Birds are found in Asia, Africa, Russia, North and South America, and Australia. They are common in forests and steppes. European countries and even capture the southern part of the tundra. Cuckoos living in Europe and northern parts of Asia are migratory. The largest number species lives in hot southern latitudes. Here the birds lead a sedentary or nomadic lifestyle.
Cuckoos live in reeds, shrubs, woody vegetation, some species are found and nest on the ground. The cuckoo's habitat extends from the lowlands and coastlines sea and reaches high mountain forests, where the number of birds from the family of passerines is reduced and, accordingly, the number of cuckoos is reduced.
What does a cuckoo eat?
The diet of cuckoos is varied. Some species are carnivorous and feed exclusively on insects and their larvae (stick insects, cicadas, termites), while other species also feed on plants. In addition, cuckoos eat, including poisonous (for example), small reptiles (), amphibians (), small mammals (), worms, crabs, bird eggs. There are species that feed mainly on berries, fruits and seeds. Unlike many other birds, the stomach of cuckoos allows them to eat hairy (for example, gypsy moth), whose body is covered with bristles. Cuckoos bring invaluable benefits to the forest, eating pests in huge quantities that are capable of a short time completely destroy the foliage on the trees. As a result of such feeding, the stomach of birds is completely studded with bristles, but cuckoos periodically regurgitate them along with gastric mucus.
Cuckoo life span
It is believed that the cuckoo lives on average 5-10 years. But there are cases when some individuals lived up to 35 and even up to 40 years.
Types of cuckoos, names and photos
Below is a description of several varieties of cuckoos from the Cuculidae family.
- common cuckoo(lat.Cuculus canorus) - a widespread species that lives in Russia (from the Urals to Kamchatka in the east and the borders of the tundra in the north), in Europe (everywhere, except extreme north), in Asia (in Turkey, the Caucasus, China, Korea, Japan, in places in Central Asia). Common cuckoos are migratory birds. They winter in Central and South Africa, in South Arabia, South Asia, reaching Australia.
The body length of the bird reaches 33-40 cm. The wing length of females varies from 20 to 23 cm, for males - from 21.5 to 25 cm. The tail is long - 15-19 cm, rounded, stepped. Beak - 1.6 - 2.4 cm in length. Common cuckoos weigh from 80 to 120 g. The color of plumage in males and females, as well as in young, adult and old individuals, varies. Males are colored in shades gray flowers, with a white or light gray belly and undertail, on which there are transverse stripes. Older females are colored in the same way, but have a brown tint. In young females, rusty-red tones predominate in coloration, bright black or red stripes are present on the abdomen, throat and undertail, and buffy streaks may be on the loins and wings. The edges of the eyelids and the eyes of all individuals are yellow. Only in young ones they are brown, and in red females they are hazel.
Common cuckoos cause harm by reducing the number of birds in whose nests they throw their eggs. But the benefits they bring are immeasurably greater. Eating huge amounts of hairy caterpillars, they save forests from this terrible enemy.
- Little cuckoo(lat.Cuculus poliocephalus) - a species that lives in the south of Primorye of Russia and in Asia: in the Himalayas (from the borders with Afghanistan to the north of Myanmar), in the north of China, in Korea, in the north of Japan. Small cuckoos winter in South China, India, on the Indochina peninsula. Some subspecies are found in Madagascar, the Sunda Islands, in South Africa.
By appearance and the color of the small cuckoo resembles an ordinary one, but differs from it in small sizes: the wing is 15-17.1 cm long, the tail is 13-14.9 cm, the metatarsus is 1.7-1.9 cm, the beak is 1.7-1.9 see Young individuals of the small cuckoo differ from the young of the common cuckoo by whitish transverse spots on the outer flight feathers and a smaller amount of black-brown. The eyes of young and old birds are brown.
The little cuckoo makes a five- or six-syllable cry that sounds like “wee-wee, wee-wee.”
- Yellow-billed American cuckoo(lat. Coccyzus americanus) It got its name from the yellowish color of the mandible and thin, curved beak, as well as from the habitat. This species nests in North America and winters in the South.
The body size of a carnivorous bird is small, but the tail is long. From above, the cuckoo is colored brownish with a bronze tint, the abdomen and stripe on the tail are white.
These cuckoos can toss eggs into other people's nests, but mostly incubate the eggs themselves. The laying time is very extended. The nest may contain both eggs and chicks ready to fly. In total, the cuckoo lays up to 10 eggs in a nest that she builds herself.
The yellow-billed cuckoo calls just like the common cuckoo, only louder. In general, this bird is very secretive. She often gives her voice before the rain, for which she received the nickname of the rain bird.
- California ground cuckoo (California running cuckoo, California plantain cuckoo)(lat.Geococcyx californianus) - This is a rather large bird, reaching a length of 60 cm. It has a large tail and high strong legs, but small and weak wings. The plantain cuckoo has a very peculiar appearance and nondescript color. Its back is brown with white-red spots, the belly is whitish, and the lower part of the throat is black-and-white. The bird's head is decorated with a modest crest. The unfeathered skin of her face is dark blue, but the orange spot behind her eyes stands out brightly on it. The large beak is equal to the length of the bird's head.
The plantain cuckoo lives in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, in arid, sparsely populated places: in cactus thickets on mountain slopes and on plains. It flies poorly and rarely, but it runs well, reaching speeds of up to 42 km / h. Most She spends her life like a chicken, on the ground. Here she is looking for food - insects, small vertebrates (lizards, mice, etc.). Among the bushes on the ground, the plantain cuckoo builds its nest, using branches and blades of grass to make it.
The female lays 3-9 eggs white color, incubating them with the male in turn.
The body length of the gigantic cuckoo reaches 66 cm, and the bird weighs up to 930 g. Distinctive feature This species has a large, curved beak. The wings and tail are long, like all members of the family. The plumage is mostly grey, ranging from ash and dark gray on the back and wings to light gray on the belly, chest and flanks. The ends of the wings are black, the bottom of the tail and sides are in black transverse stripes. The skin around the eyes is naked, reddish or brownish in color. The beak is gray at the base and light at the end. Eyes in juveniles Brown, in adults - red.
Giant cuckoos in their range lead a nomadic or migratory lifestyle. They live in mangroves, on the edges and outskirts of forests (where eucalyptus, figs grow), along rivers and sea coasts.
Giant cuckoos eat various fruits (figs, mistletoe, mulberries), insects (butterflies, beetles, grasshoppers, stick insects), eggs and newborn chicks, as well as carrion. Eggs are laid mainly in the nests of various birds from the corvid family (, jackdaws), as well as the collared hawk and the Australian hawk. The voice of the gigantic cuckoo sounds like “kuak” followed by long and quickening whistles, or like a gurgling “klu-klu-klu”.
- Red-billed ground cuckoo (lat.Carpococcyx renauldi) - species leading a terrestrial lifestyle. Habitat - Indochina Peninsula (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos).
Red-billed cuckoos hatch their own chicks. They nest both in trees and on the ground. They feed on small vertebrates.
The body length of the bird is 68 cm. Their plumage is light gray. The neck and tail are dark. The beak and legs are reddish in color. The eyes are yellow. The feathers around the eyes are blue and the skin is purple.
- Koel (koel)(lat.Eudynamys scolopaceus) - a cuckoo that lives in Asia - in the Southeast, in India and China, as well as in Australia. It got its name due to the sounds made by males: “koo-her, koo-spruce”.
The bird has a very long tail, which is almost half the length of the body, which is approximately 42 cm. Males and females are brightly colored, but differ from each other. Males are blue-black with a green tint, females are bronze-brown with white spots.
Koels lead a secretive way of life, they are found in the crowns of tall trees, in case of danger they hide among the foliage. The diet of these birds consists almost exclusively of fruits and berries, which they feed on in the forest or in gardens. These include figs, jujube, mulberry, papaya, guava, capers, tamarind, etc. Insects, bird eggs and snails make up a small part of the diet.
- Pheasant cuckoo(lat. Centropus phasianinus) - a representative of the genus of spur cuckoos, living in western Indonesia, in Australia, in papua new guinea. Lives in forests with dense undergrowth and swampy places in tall, dense grass.
This large bird reaches 70 cm in length and has a long tail. Plumage color - gray-brown.
- Guira (guira) (lat.guira guira) - South American cuckoo, which is found south of the Amazonian lowland and east of the Andes. It is found in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina.
The bird is of medium size (35-40 cm), lives on tall trees, she builds nests and hatches chicks. The plumage of the guira has a gray-brown hue. The beak is yellow at the base and orange at the end. On the head of adults there is a crest.
- Furrow-billed ani (lat.Crotophaga sulcirostris) - a bird from the cuckoo family that lives in the north South America and islands caribbean. Its name reflects external signs: grooves running along the large curved beak, and the sound made by the bird - "ani-ani".
Furrow-billed anis eat insects, worms, and catch mollusks in coastal areas. Their diet also includes plant foods.
In length, they reach 33 cm with a mass of 70-80 g. The plumage of the furrow-billed ani is black, with a purple tint. The tail is black, long, with a bluish tint. The eyes and legs are grey.
These cuckoos are distinguished by the fact that they build nests together, hatch chicks and take care of them together. The nest of the furrowed ani is a bowl lined with leaves, which is located near the trunk of a tree at a height of human growth and rests on lateral branches. In such a bowl-shaped structure, there can be from 15 to 50 eggs. Ani fly little and poorly, while moving on the ground quite briskly. Birds prefer open spaces, hiding in the forest only from the rain. Noticing the danger, they quickly hide in the bushes.
