Common cuckoo - description, habitat

It is difficult to imagine Russian forests without wonderful sonorous bird singing. It is even more difficult to imagine a walk among the trees and greenery without a distant sounding. These sounds are made by the cuckoo. It seems to be an ordinary bird that does not stand out among others, but not very much is known about it, since it is difficult to study. What do people know about the cuckoo?

The common cuckoo is distributed almost throughout the entire Russian territory, but few people managed to contemplate it. Everyone published the “cookie” she had heard, and only a few people saw this bird alive.

The body length is up to 38 centimeters, the tail is small - 13-19 centimeters, the wings in scope reach 55-57 centimeters. Body weight is very small - about 130-135 grams. Legs are not long, but quite strong.Males differ from females in color and appearance.

1. Females Plumage is reddish or gray-brown. Along the back and heads are black stripes. Feathers are edged with white trim. The chest and head are painted in pale gray colors with thin black stripes.
2. The males. The back is with a tail of a dark gray color. The chest is gray, the head is the same color. The rest of the plumage is light with stripes of dark shades running along it. The beak is dark and the legs are yellow.

Habitat

The distribution of the cuckoo is quite wide. It is a lot in European countries, settles in Africa, the Asian territory.

In Russia, he lives almost everywhere, except for the tundra. For living, she chooses a forest zone where she settles on edges and glades located near cuttings, likes to nest in thickets at water bodies and rivers.

Breeding

As soon as March arrives, the cuckoos return from the southern edges back to their native places - to Asian and European countries.Males choose and occupy large areas of several hectares. In female cuckoos, the territory is smaller than -1-2 hectares; it is important for them that the nests of other birds are located nearby. The male, flying around the territory, visits the ladies from time to time.

The cuckoo does not build nests and does not twist them, but closely watches the lives of other birds. Say, for the species from the family of passerines. He does this in order to choose educators for his children. Everyone knows that the cuckoo throws eggs into other people's nests.

Unusual habits

The female cuckoo arranges an ambush and, having taken the necessary precautions, looks out for a nest suitable for the cause. At the right moment in a few seconds lays his egg there. Scientists believe that in this case an uninvited lodger throws out one alien egg, although it is not clear - for what? After all, birds are not completely endowed with nature with the ability to count, therefore - the owner of the nest will not be able to learn that there is more for one egg.

There is another opinion, as the cuckoo manages to throw his eggs in other people's nests. The color and plumage of the male are a bit like the hawk's plumage.Taking advantage of this, he flies over the nest, makes several laps, the hosts begin to panic and hide in fright in the foliage or in the grass, leaving the clutch for a few seconds unattended. The female has enough time to throw out someone else's egg and lay her own. Returned hosts see whole eggs and continue incubation.

How chicks survive

The cuckoo, for the most part, hatches a day or two before the rest of the chicks. He has enough time to acclimatize in a strange nest. He is still blind and naked, but the ejection instinct is already well developed. The nestling throws out of the nest all that relates to its bare, sensitive back - primarily eggs and other nestlings. Shows the most activity in the absence of adoptive parents, when they leave for food. At this time, "consolidated" small relatives lose mobility due to the lack of maternal heat. The cuckoo spreads his legs as wide as possible and makes an attempt to crawl under the chick or the testicle. If the attempt ends successfully, the cuckoo makes several pushes, pushing the victim onto the concave back. Then he moves back to the edge of the nest, rises on the paws and throws the contents of the back out. The instinct is short-lived - 4 days, so the cuckoo is in a hurry. And he is quite successful.From the surviving roommates the tenant takes away the food brought by caring parents.

Why don't nest owners see deception?

The strangest thing is that the owners of the nest consider what is happening quite common and make great efforts to feed the only baby in the nest. Not seeing that chick is a stranger. Why is that?

Recently found out the reason why birds behave so strange and unusual. It turned out that the yellow color of the open mouth and the red color of the pharynx are a very powerful signal for adult birds, forcing step-parents to carry food to an already young chick. Even alien birds react to this signal, and they are close by - giving food intended for their children.

By the way, they feed the cuckoo for a long time - even after he got on the wing, the parents continue to supply the step-child for another month and a half.

Cuckoo, as a rule, throws eggs to feathery small breeds. Such as robins, skins, flycatchers. And externally, the testicles also look like clutch, demolished by parents - and the form and color. However, there are species that throw them in the crows nests or to jackdaws.And what is interesting - they manage to carry eggs as large as theirs.

The use of the cuckoo

On the one hand, this bird contributes to the death of chicks in useful and necessary birds. On the other - the cuckoo is very gluttonous. And since it feeds for the most part on caterpillars, insects and worms, it contributes to the purification of nature from pests. In addition, it can eat poisonous insects that other inhabitants of the bird kingdom do not eat. One of the few who eat hairy poisonous caterpillars.

Wintering

Cuckoos are migratory birds. In late autumn, with the onset of cold weather, they go to warm lands - to the south of Africa, to warm China, Indochina, Sri Lanka, to the southern tips of the Arabian Peninsula.

The most interesting thing is that no one has ever seen the cuckoo flocks flying away for the winter; probably they are flying alone. Return home in late March - early April.

Interesting Facts

1. The life span of the common cuckoo is 9-11 years. But there are cases that some of them lived for a long time - 35, and sometimes - 40 years.
2. At one time, the female can carry 20 eggs and it takes less than a minute.
3. Cuckoos are great tireless flyers. During flights for wintering and back, the pack can overcome 3,500 thousand kilometers without stopping to rest.
4. Out of every five eggs that were thrown into alien nests, only one nestling hatch and survive.
5. A cuckoo always throws only one egg into the nest. After all, if there are two of them, the voracious cuckoo will “eat” each other, and one of them (or even both) will die of hunger. Either a stronger opponent will simply throw the fellow out of the nest.
6. Many believe that the cuckoo throws eggs only in other people's nests - in reality, however, they often visit other people's hollows and rush there. More precisely, the egg lays somewhere nearby, and then takes the testicle in the beak and endures.
7. The Japanese consider the cuckoo a traveler to the world of the dead. According to the beliefs of the people of this country, crowing heralds trouble - or a big fire, or the emergence of the plague.
8. In other countries, on the contrary: the cuckoo singing promises a good successful marriage, a fruitful year and many years of life. It is considered - the singing of the cuckoo means the onset of spring.
9. The Scots call the first April day not a fool’s day, but a cuckoo day.
10. A scorpion bite is not terrible for a cuckoo - scorpions poison does not have any effect on the bird and does not cause harm.

Cuckoos, being secretive creatures, lead a rather silent lifestyle. Cook only in the marriage season. It is curious that only males sing - it is them that are heard in the forest oak grove. They invoke the female with their innocent "cookie", inviting her to mate. The voice of the females emits sounds more like a cross between a trill, a frog croak and a laugh.

Video: common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)