BIRD OF THE MONTH: APRIL
CUCKOO
Latin name: Cuculus canorus Irish name: Cuach
Status: Widespread summer visitor to Ireland from April to August.
Identification:
- Despite its obvious song, relatively infrequently seen.
- In flight, can be mistaken for a bird of prey such as Sparrowhawk, but has rapid wingbeats below the horizontal plane – ie. the wings are not raised above the body.
- Adult male Cuckoos are a uniform grey on the head, neck, back, wings and tail. The underparts are white with black barring.
- Adult females can appear in one of two forms, The so-called grey-morph resembles the adult male plumage, but has throat and breast barred black and white with yellowish wash.
- The rufous-morph has the grey replaced by rufous, with strong black barring on the wings, back and tail.
- Juvenile Cuckoos resemble the female rufous-morph, but are darker brown above.
Similar Species: Sparrowhawk
Call: The song is probably one of the most recognisable and well-known of all Irish bird species. The male gives a distinctive “wuck-oo”, which is occasionally doubled “wuck-uck-ooo”. The female has a distinctive bubbling “pupupupu”. The song period is late April to late June.
Diet: Mainly caterpillars and other insects.
Wintering: Cuckoos winter in central and southern Africa.
Where to see: Occurs throughout Ireland though nowhere especially common. Good areas to see Cuckoo are the Burren and Connemara, which hold the highest density of breeding pairs.
The Cuckoo: mother of all cheaters!!
This is truly the mother of all cheaters — the female cuckoo bird will not only raid the nest of her warbler neighbour to steal eggs, she then leaves her own eggs behind to replace what she just ransacked. In a true testament of nature vs. nurture, despite being abandoned, the baby cuckoo bird is just as much of a con artist as its birth mother. Thanks to incubating an egg similar in appearance to the other warbler eggs, the baby cuckoo bird blends among the other chicks and is therefore treated and fed like one of the family. You’d think with the baby cuckoo bird’s rapid growth (we’re talking 10 times the size of its foster mother!) the warbler would finally take notice that something is amiss. But hey, a mother’s love can really turn a blind eye.
Cuckoo chick being fed by its robin foster-mother. Cheeky !
