Cuckoos

Image via Wikipedia

Sometime in the next few weeks, in Europe, we'll be hearing the unique call of the cuckoo. I didn't realise until I watched a documentary recently that cuckoos migrate from Africa each year. Their domestic setup and chick-rearing arrangements are also particularly unusual as it takes perfect timing for a cuckoo to lay it's egg in a target species bird's nest. Too early and the host bird will eject it. Too late and the cuckoo chick will not hatch early enough to evict the host bird's chicks from the nest. Apparently the amount of time and effort that it takes to arrange this is almost equal to that of any other bird's nestbuilding and rearing practices. The great trade-off is that cuckoos can lay more eggs in a season once they become expert at getting the timing right.