Cuckoo - (Cuculidae) - 'L' for LARGE
Taken on Dartmoor yesterday
Common cuckoos breed right across the temperate Old World, from Western Europe to Japan
There are currently 15,000 breeding pairs of common cuckoo in the UK
This solitary bird eats insects, and is particularly fond of hairy caterpillars
There are many distinct races of cuckoo. Each specialises in a particular host species, and lays a distinctive egg type
Most races lay an egg that matches the egg of their chosen host. Experiments with model eggs reveal that these hosts reject eggs unlike their own, so the good match is necessary to trick the hosts.
A female common cuckoo can lay up to 25 eggs in a summer
If she fails to find a nest of her favourite host, as a last resort she might lay in the nest of another host species, but this egg is more likely to be rejected, as it will not be such a good match to the host egg
Cuckoo - (Cuculidae) - 'L' for LARGE
Taken on Dartmoor yesterday
Common cuckoos breed right across the temperate Old World, from Western Europe to Japan
There are currently 15,000 breeding pairs of common cuckoo in the UK
This solitary bird eats insects, and is particularly fond of hairy caterpillars
There are many distinct races of cuckoo. Each specialises in a particular host species, and lays a distinctive egg type
Most races lay an egg that matches the egg of their chosen host. Experiments with model eggs reveal that these hosts reject eggs unlike their own, so the good match is necessary to trick the hosts.
A female common cuckoo can lay up to 25 eggs in a summer
If she fails to find a nest of her favourite host, as a last resort she might lay in the nest of another host species, but this egg is more likely to be rejected, as it will not be such a good match to the host egg