The cuckoo bird is well known to everyone since childhood, although few can say that they have seen it. She got her name due to the sounds "cuckoo" she makes. The Bulgarians call it "kukovitsa", the Germans - "kukuk", the Czechs - "kukachka", the French - "ku-ku", the Romanians - "kuk", the Italians - "kukolo", the Spaniards - "kuko", and the Turks - "guguk". "".
Many legends are associated with this bird. According to one of the most common, a woman caused the death of her husband, for which she was punished. God turned her into a bird that could not have a family. The life of the cuckoo bird is very unusual, and from this all beliefs were born. Not only does the bird not incubate and feed offspring, but also the cuckoos get rid of the chicks of "adoptive parents". In science, this behavior has been called nest parasitism.
The cuckoo bird is very careful. She looks after the right nest, picks up the moment and quickly lays an egg in an open nest. If the nest is located in a hollow, then it acts differently. The bird carries the egg somewhere nearby on the ground, and then in its beak carries it to the nest box.
There is another version of howlike cuckoos lay their eggs in other people's nests. She acts quite arrogantly. The cuckoo bird is similar in color and size to a hawk. Her photo shows it well. Flying low over the nest, she frightens away the birds, forcing them to hide in the bushes, and at this time she lays an egg. Surprisingly, the male, drawing the attention of the owners of the nest to himself, contributes to her.
After laying one egg in several nests (and a cuckoo can have up to 25 eggs), she "with a clear conscience" goes to winter, usually in South Africa. Adults leave very early, around July, while juveniles leave much later.
The cuckoo hatches before its fellows. 1-2 days is enough for him to get comfortable. He is still blind (eyes open only on the fifth day), naked, but strong. It weighs 3 grams, and can lift 6 grams. The instinct of ejection has already awakened in him, so the cuckoo pushes out everything that it touches with its bare back, which even has a special platform. Helping himself with fledgling wings, he pushes out the eggs of foster parents.
Instinct works for 3-4 days, then fades away. If during this time he does not throw out his competitors, they are still doomed, since they will not see food, the cuckoo will intercept everything brought. And the "foster parents" do not notice the changes in the nest and feed the foundling with amazing diligence.
The true reason for this behavior became known not so long ago. It turns out that the yellow color of the cuckoo's mouth and the bright red tone of the throat is a powerful signal that makes not only"adoptive parents", but also other birds flying with food to their chicks, to feed it. At the same time, no one takes into account the huge size of the chick. The cuckoo becomes independent only 1.5 months after leaving the nest.
The cuckoo bird usually lays its eggs in the nests of smaller birds. Each specializes in a certain species - flycatchers, redstarts, robins, warblers and others. Surprisingly, she also carries eggs similar in color and size to those laid by the “adoptive mother”. A cuckoo bird weighs about 110 grams, its egg should have a mass of 15 grams, but it weighs about 3 grams, that is, the same as a bird weighing 10-12 grams.
The cuckoo bird lays eggs not from a lack of maternal instinct, but rather the opposite, taking care of the chicks, because they want to eat all the time, so it is not easy to feed them. Having killed so many chicks of different species of birds, the cuckoo redeems all its guilt. One adult can eat up to 100 caterpillars per hour, including the "hairy" caterpillars that other birds ignore. Moreover, with such intensity, it can “work” for a long time. And if a lot of pests appear in the forest, then the bird will “work” without interruption until it destroys everyone. Moreover, cuckoos from all over the area flock to the "feast". It turns out that one cuckoo bird can destroy many more harmful insects than all the birds killed by the cuckoo would eat.
