General Chat

When I got up this morning there was no power but there had been when OH went to work because he had made tea.

Coming down, I looked out of the window and there was a dead bird on the lawn and it looks to me like it is a cuckoo.

Maybe she picked the wrong nest this time!

Oh sounds like an interesting start to the day!

Hope it improves

I can't understand them Cuckoos Sharron.
They fly all the way from Africa to lay their egg in another bird's nest.
Then fly all the way back !!
The young when reared by another bird then fly to Africa.
What's the attraction in Africa ?

Warm weather ALL the year round!!!!

It was not a cuckoo after all. it was green woodpecker.

I bet it was prodding about in the ground, looking for insects and was jumped by a cat. Could have been Jacky Milburn.

If those cuckoos have the strength to fly from Africa to England and back,

I'd think they would have the strength to build their own nest ?

If a cuckoo did it's own thing then it could have only one nest or poss one nest and two broods each year. Moreover it would have to hang around and feed its young ones plsu the risk of becoming lunch for a bird of prey.

By hijacking other bird's nests the cuckoo only needs to be in England for a few weeks May - September before heading back to warm, comfy Africa. During those few weeks each female can lay 10-20 eggs.

Why England ? Northern countries have long summer days which helps all kinds of migratory birds as they get 16-22 hours of daylight feeding.

Only the male has the "cuckoo" call. He is always away before the end of August.

Some British and American politicians emulate the cuckoo with great success.

Or you could look on the bright side, Sharron.
It could have died of old age, or been attacked by a Sparrowhawk.
Jacky could be innocent! :-D

Wasn't the deal that we should keep off each other's threads Rollo? I have kept my part.

The cuckoo calls in april
It lays it's eggs in may
In the middle of june, it changes it's tune
In july it flies away.
(There is a rude alternative to that last line)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITXBjDTXS90

Sharron, did you find out why you had a power outage?

No, but it was just our power that had tripped. Might have been a little power surge or something.

Maybe it was that bloody woodpecker trying to peck through the outside wire and electrocuting itself!

:-D :-D :-D :-D

So if it electrocuted itself, Jacky's in the clear :-D :-D

When I heard the cuckoo in Chapel St Leonards, it was early June and it was a very definite cuckoo sound. I didn't know it was only the male 'cuckooed'

Lizx

Hmmmm, Maybe the cuckoo picked on a wrong nest, namely the oozlem bird...which every one and his dog knows flies in ever decreasing circles until it disappears up its own Jacksie,with a cry of Eureka!
in which case the cry would be oookuc!

Here are some actual 'facts' about the cuckoo, from https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/9448.aspx

1. Though there are 54 species of Old World cuckoos, just two live in Europe: most live in Africa, Asia and Australasia.

2. The name cuckoo is onomatopoeic, which means that it is taken from the birds call (like, for example, curlew and hoopoe).

3. The common cuckoo is the only member of the family that calls cuckoo-cuckoo-cuckoo… Most of the others have loud voices but totally different calls.

4. The female’s bubbling call is often said to resemble the sound of bath water running out when the plug is pulled.

5. The resident African cuckoo looks virtually identical to our bird, but has more orange-yellow on the beak. It calls pooh-pooh…

6. The cuckoo is one of the most widespread breeding birds in Europe, and is only absent from Iceland. It also breeds throughout Asia east to Japan.

7. The earliest-ever reliable record of a cuckoo in England was one at Farnham in Surrey on 20 February 1953.

8. It is traditional to write to The Times when you hear the first cuckoo of spring.

9. Only the male cuckoo calls cuckoo, and as the spring progresses the double-note tends to change: In June I change my tune.

10. Cuckoo spit has nothing to do with cuckoos, but is produced by insects as a protection from predators.

11. The cuckoo’s favourite diet is hairy caterpillars.

12. The word cuckold indicates a betrayed husband, a reflection of the cuckoo’s mating habits.

13. Each season a female will lay between 12 and 22 eggs, all in different nests.

14. More than 120 species have been parasitised by cuckoos in Europe: in Britain the most favoured species are dunnock, meadow pipit and reed bunting.

15. A female cuckoo will generally lay her eggs in a nest belonging to the same species of bird that reared her.

16. Unlike most birds, female cuckoos lay their eggs in the afternoon rather than the morning.

17. Though cuckoo eggs usually resemble those of their host, around 20% are rejected so never hatch.

18. Young cuckoos do not tolerate other eggs or chicks in their nest.

19. Adult cuckoos move back to Africa as soon as the breeding season is over – as early as the second half of June in southern England.

20. Young cuckoos follow their parents back to Africa several weeks later.

21. The cuckoo spends nine months of the year in tropical Africa, where it has never been heard to sing.

Read more at https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/9448.aspx#7OAhjBbPHLOsMf3B.99

I've wood pigeons nesting behind my bungalow. Was almost certain was a cuckoo :-S

This is all very interesting stuff but it was a green woodpecker after all.

Cuckoos lay eggs of differing colours depending on which species are to be the host parents.
....but how does a migrating female know which colour trait she has inherited and so which host nest she must choose?

Amazing feat, even though the ousting of rival chicks from the nest of their natural parents seems brutal to us.