The cuckoos are generally medium sized slender birds. The majority are arboreal, with a sizeable minority that are terrestrial. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. Here are some interesting facts about these birds :-
1. The cuckoo doesn't build its own nest. They lay their eggs in other's nests, with over 90% of them being laid in reed warbler, meadow pipit and dunnock nests.
2. When the cuckoo chick hatches it pushes the hosts' chicks out of the nest and is fed by its trusting foster parents until it fledges
3. The name cuckoo is onomatopoeic, which means that it is taken from the birds call (like, for example, curlew and hoopoe).
4. 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.
5. The ROADRUNNER is actually a ground foraging cuckoo bird with fairly long legs. Only the male cuckoo calls cuckoo, and as the spring progresses the double-note tends to change.
6. Though there are 54 species of Old World cuckoos, just two live in Europe. Most live in Africa, Asia and Australasia.
7. The earliest-ever reliable record of a cuckoo in England was one at Farnham in Surrey on 20 February 1953.
8. 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.
9. The cuckoo’s favourite diet is hairy caterpillars.
10. Each season a female will lay between 12 and 22 eggs, all in different nests.
11. Unlike most birds, female cuckoos lay their eggs in the afternoon rather than the morning.
12. Young cuckoos do not tolerate other eggs or chicks in their nest.
13. The cuckoo spends nine months of the year in tropical Africa, where it has never been heard to sing.
1. The cuckoo doesn't build its own nest. They lay their eggs in other's nests, with over 90% of them being laid in reed warbler, meadow pipit and dunnock nests.
2. When the cuckoo chick hatches it pushes the hosts' chicks out of the nest and is fed by its trusting foster parents until it fledges
3. The name cuckoo is onomatopoeic, which means that it is taken from the birds call (like, for example, curlew and hoopoe).
4. 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.
5. The ROADRUNNER is actually a ground foraging cuckoo bird with fairly long legs. Only the male cuckoo calls cuckoo, and as the spring progresses the double-note tends to change.
6. Though there are 54 species of Old World cuckoos, just two live in Europe. Most live in Africa, Asia and Australasia.
7. The earliest-ever reliable record of a cuckoo in England was one at Farnham in Surrey on 20 February 1953.
8. 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.
9. The cuckoo’s favourite diet is hairy caterpillars.
10. Each season a female will lay between 12 and 22 eggs, all in different nests.
11. Unlike most birds, female cuckoos lay their eggs in the afternoon rather than the morning.
12. Young cuckoos do not tolerate other eggs or chicks in their nest.
13. The cuckoo spends nine months of the year in tropical Africa, where it has never been heard to sing.
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