Cuckoo: description and photo

It is difficult to imagine our forests without birds and their wonderful singing. And even more difficult to imagine a walk in the fresh air without a characteristic "ku-ku." This sound is produced by cuckoo males, and females start gurgling trills. It seems that this is the most common bird, but it is not so much known about it, as it is difficult to study.

Description of the cuckoo common

Do you know what this bird looks like?

Cuckoo common lives almost everywhere in Russia. But to see it is very difficult. As a rule, everyone heard her "ku-ku", but few people can boast that he saw this bird. So, the cuckoo common in length can reach thirty-eight centimeters. The length of the tail is about thirteen to eighteen centimeters, and the wingspan is fifty-five centimeters. The bird weighs very little, about a hundred and thirty grams. Her legs are strong, but short enough. Females are externally different from males.

Females usually have a reddish feather or brown. There are black stripes on the back and head. The feathers themselves with a white edging. A head and chest, as a rule, light gray, but they are clearly visible thin black strips. The weight of the female does not exceed one hundred and ten grams. Young individuals have light-red hues with dark stripes throughout the body. They molt birds twice a year. In the summer, this is a partial change of the pen, and in winter it is complete.

The males also have a tail and a back of a dark gray color. Chest and head are gray. All other feathers are quite light with dark stripes. The beak is dark in birds, but the legs are yellow.

Reproduction of birds

An ordinary cuckoo is a mysterious bird. It's hard to see. Many peoples have a lot of legends about it. And this is due primarily to the unusual way of her life.

In early spring, cuckoos leave Africa and fly to Asia and Europe, to the nesting place. They lead a solitary life. Males occupy huge tracts that reach several hectares. But in females the territory is less extensive. For them an important criterion is to find nearby nests of other birds.

The cuckoo ordinary does not make nests. But she actively watches other birds. For example, for representatives of the family of passerines. Why do you think she does this?

The cuckoo chooses future educators for its chicks. Yes, that's such a cunning bird. She completely removes all the worries of raising children and shifts them to other people's shoulders.

Strange habits of the cuckoo

Bird's care is amazing. She ambushes in advance a good suitable nest. As soon as she seizes the moment, she puts her egg into it for a couple of seconds. Scientists came to the conclusion that at the same time she throws out another's egg. But this fact is not confirmed. In fact, it is unclear why she should do this. Birds do not know how to count, which means that the owner of the nest can not detect an extra egg.

After the cuckoo hatches and gets a little stronger, it throws all its competitors out of the nest.

It must be said that the cuckoo ordinary lays eggs not only in the nests, but also in hollows. To be more exact, she first lays them off somewhere near, and then she carries them in the beak.

There is also a completely opposite opinion as to how the cuckoo throws up its offspring. Its coloration is somewhat like a hawk. That is why the bird uses an impudence. She frightens the hosts of the nest, flying low over them, and while they are huddled in the grass or leaves, she puts her eggs. She can be helped in this by a male.

School of survival of chicks

Cuckoo common, the appearance of which is unremarkable, nevertheless has an amazing cunning. She one by one throws her eggs in different nests, and herself with a clean soul goes to winter in South Africa. Meanwhile, in the nests of adoptive parents, sad events occur.

Kukushonok, as a rule, hatch for a couple of days before their brethren. During this time he manages to acclimatize in the nest. Although he is still blind and naked, he has developed a throwing instinct. Imagine that he throws everything that touches his naked back. First of all, these are eggs and fledglings. The nestling is in a great hurry to do its job. Instinct has been working in it for only four days. But this is quite enough to destroy competitors. Even if someone survives, he still has little chance of surviving. The fact is that the cuckoo takes away all the food that foster parents bring.

Why do birds not notice deception?

The behavior of the owners of the nest is also surprising. They seem to not even notice what is happening. And they try to feed the only baby. And they do not see that this is not their chick.

Not so long ago, the reason for such strange behavior of birds was clarified. It turns out that the yellow mouth of the cuckoo and the red throat give the birds a powerful signal that makes adoptive parents carry food to a large chick. Even extraneous birds, who are nearby, give him food caught for their own chicks. Only a month and a half after the first departure from the nest, the chick begins to live independently.

Adaptability of birds

Ordinary cuckoo basically throws eggs to small birds. But some varieties toss them into the nests of jackdaws and crows, other fairly large birds. And yet the cuckoo specializes in certain birds, such as redstart, robins, chaff and flycatcher. At cuckoos even eggs are similar to their offspring both in shape and color.

But what concerns their size, so it's generally a mystery. The bird itself weighs about one hundred and twenty grams, which means that its egg should weigh fifteen grams. Instead, the cuckoo lays very small eggs weighing three grams, which is incommensurate with its size.

Once in England, an exhibition of cuckoo eggs was organized. So, nine hundred and nineteen copies were put up. All of them were different coloring, size. And this means that the birds lay eggs, which, like two drops of water, are like the eggs of foster parents. Cuckoo tosses them into the nests of at least one hundred and fifty species of birds.

This is such an unusual bird. Cuckoo common, nevertheless, despite such a parasitic way of life, benefits.

Does the cuckoo benefit?

At first glance, everything is clear. The ordinary cuckoo is a bird of prey that destroys the chicks of good and useful birds. However, not all so simple.

Probably, the cuckoo is not really a bad mother, she still makes an effort to save her offspring. And the desire to destroy the competitors in the cuckoo is explained by its great voracity.

It is such an amazing love for food that makes this bird very useful. What do you think, what does the cuckoo eat? That's right, caterpillars. In just one hour, it can destroy up to a hundred caterpillars. And this is not the limit, because the bird is unrealistic gluttonous.

If there are many parasites in the forest, then she will eat them all, and all the relatives will hurry to help her. So the cuckoo destroys a huge number of pests and insects.

Many birds do not eat hairy caterpillars. A cuckoo does not sort out food in this sense. Her stomach is arranged in such a way that the hairs of the caterpillars do not cause harm, but are quietly gradually withdrawn.

Where does the cuckoo winters?

Cuckoo, no matter how surprised you are, it's a migratory bird. For the winter, she moves to South Africa. But how this happens is unknown, because no one has seen that the cuckoos flew in packs, which is characteristic of other birds. Apparently, they fly alone. They very quietly disappear in the autumn from the forests, as if they were not there. And just as suddenly appear in the spring, with the first bright rays of the sun.

Sometimes cuckoo can fly to the south of the Arabian Peninsula, to the Chinese provinces on the island of Ceylon, in Indochina.

Those individuals that winter in Africa, leave it in early March. Flying birds very slowly, overcoming eighty kilometers a day. They, without resting, fly day and night. They spend three months on the site of wintering.

Are all cuckoos parasitic birds?

It would be unfair to say that absolutely all representatives of the cuckoo family are parasitic birds. Of the one hundred and fifty species, only fifty behave not very beautifully. All the rest are exemplary parents who independently grow their offspring.

And there are some species that are partially parasitic. For example, in South America, the cuckoo larvae ani lives. So now she occasionally throws eggs into the nests, but only her own kind. But this happens rarely. Basically, she grows her kids by herself.

Cuckoo common (photo is shown in the article) is characterized by unusual behavior among members of its family.

In the world there are cuckoos that throw eggs in their nests, but then they themselves sit out or, on the contrary, later feed themselves on their own. And there are some who plant their offspring in the nests of large birds. Then the cuckoo does not need to throw out rivals from the nest, because there is enough food for everyone.

Are all foster parents ready to raise another's chick?

It is unclear why the birds bring up another's baby, discovering a substitution. As experiments show, almost all birds do not know their eggs well. That's why they do not see the difference. Ducks, chickens and eagles in general can sit absolutely any object resembling an egg in shape. It was once observed that the swans had the intention of hatching a bottle.

Scientists even performed experiments with the substitution of all the eggs in the nest, after which the bird demolished its native egg. So, seeing that it was not like everyone else, she threw it away, taking it for someone else's.

But not all birds are so foolish and illegible. Some skillfully detect the substitution and throw it out of the nests. Others just drop out of their homes with their future offspring and begin to build a new nest. And some birds build a second floor above the old nest, a two-storeyed structure is obtained, on the first level there are abandoned eggs, and on the second bird it postpones a new offspring.

Where does the cuckoo live?

Cuckoo common is widespread. It nests in the European part of the mainland and on the nearest islands, in Africa, Asia, sometimes even migrating beyond the polar northern circle.

In May and July in Russia, the bird can be found almost everywhere, except the northern tundra. It is interesting that in different regions of the country there is a different number of parasitic species. In all there are five in the territory of Russia. Together they live in the Primorye region, in the European part there are only two of them. The main places of residence are forests, parks, gardens, clearings near felling, forest edges, coastal thickets and bushes.

About the cuckoo children

Who is such an ordinary cuckoo? The description for children of this unusual bird needs to start with the benefit that it brings. Unconditionally, the cuckoo is destroying the offspring of birds, but its babies do not survive so much. Of the five eggs thrown by her, not all chicks hatch, only one cub will reach the adult state. After all, some birds, sensing deception, throw a nest together with all the eggs, which simply perish.

The gluttonous nature of the bird makes it very useful. She needs a lot to eat, and she does not pick insects, eats everyone around. There is even a popular sign that if one cuckoo cuckles in one place, then this indicates a large number of insects. This statement is quite true. If a large number of insects are bred in a certain territory, then the feast will be extended not only to relatives from the nearest districts, but also to the most distant relatives. So these strange birds are arranged.