A Pied Cuckoo landing on a twig in a dry lake
A migratory bird that is famous for appearing just before the start of the rainy season. In the countryside, people still predict rains by its sightings. In many parts of India, it migrates all the way to Africa and comes back just in time for the rains which is the breeding season. But in South India, this is a resident bird and can be seen late summers, rainy seasons and sometimes in the winters too.
This species of Cuckoo is a brood parasite and lays its eggs in other birds nests. It would eat one of the hosts eggs and drop its own in them. The bird prefers Bulbuls, both Red Vented and White throated, tailorbirds etc.. as hosts for its eggs.
We sighted two of them in the area I visited during the weekend. The place was teeming with butterflies and no wonder there were so many cuckoo's there. This cuckoo caught caterpillars in the dry bushes and then flew over to the trees and consumed it there. This happened a couple of times and that is when I took this shot!
Thank you so much in advance for your views and feedback.
A Pied Cuckoo landing on a twig in a dry lake
A migratory bird that is famous for appearing just before the start of the rainy season. In the countryside, people still predict rains by its sightings. In many parts of India, it migrates all the way to Africa and comes back just in time for the rains which is the breeding season. But in South India, this is a resident bird and can be seen late summers, rainy seasons and sometimes in the winters too.
This species of Cuckoo is a brood parasite and lays its eggs in other birds nests. It would eat one of the hosts eggs and drop its own in them. The bird prefers Bulbuls, both Red Vented and White throated, tailorbirds etc.. as hosts for its eggs.
We sighted two of them in the area I visited during the weekend. The place was teeming with butterflies and no wonder there were so many cuckoo's there. This cuckoo caught caterpillars in the dry bushes and then flew over to the trees and consumed it there. This happened a couple of times and that is when I took this shot!
Thank you so much in advance for your views and feedback.