General Chat

Gwyn the feathers you mention might be from a Bird of Prey kill. Lasy week i was sitting there wondering where feathers were coming from...looked up and on top of a pole was a falcon plucking away at it's kill...once it'd cleaned most of the feathers it took off with the kill between it's talons.

The body was belly up under the window, showing grey belly feathers and some striped feathers like a bird of prey but, as the head was visible, I could see it was the wrong beak for that.but not that it was particularly long so I surmised it was a cuckoo.

Fred's mate looked at it and found it to be a woodpecker. It appears to have been dead awhile because it stunk. Dunno where it must have come from unless it died on the roof or the solar panels and finally slid off yesterday..

Sharron

Was the actual body there?
I ask because there had obviously been 'a killing' in our garden last weekend, but no bones remained, just lots of feathers indicating it was probably a fledgling seagull that was the casualty. Someone suggested crows might do that, as the cats around here just kill, but don't usually eat the evidence.

Cuckoos lay eggs of differing colours depending on which species are to be the host parents.
....but how does a migrating female know which colour trait she has inherited and so which host nest she must choose?

Amazing feat, even though the ousting of rival chicks from the nest of their natural parents seems brutal to us.

This is all very interesting stuff but it was a green woodpecker after all.

I've wood pigeons nesting behind my bungalow. Was almost certain was a cuckoo :-S

Here are some actual 'facts' about the cuckoo, from https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/9448.aspx

1. Though there are 54 species of Old World cuckoos, just two live in Europe: most live in Africa, Asia and Australasia.

2. The name cuckoo is onomatopoeic, which means that it is taken from the birds call (like, for example, curlew and hoopoe).

3. 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.

4. The female’s bubbling call is often said to resemble the sound of bath water running out when the plug is pulled.

5. The resident African cuckoo looks virtually identical to our bird, but has more orange-yellow on the beak. It calls pooh-pooh…

6. 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.

7. The earliest-ever reliable record of a cuckoo in England was one at Farnham in Surrey on 20 February 1953.

8. It is traditional to write to The Times when you hear the first cuckoo of spring.

9. Only the male cuckoo calls cuckoo, and as the spring progresses the double-note tends to change: In June I change my tune.

10. Cuckoo spit has nothing to do with cuckoos, but is produced by insects as a protection from predators.

11. The cuckoo’s favourite diet is hairy caterpillars.

12. The word cuckold indicates a betrayed husband, a reflection of the cuckoo’s mating habits.

13. Each season a female will lay between 12 and 22 eggs, all in different nests.

14. More than 120 species have been parasitised by cuckoos in Europe: in Britain the most favoured species are dunnock, meadow pipit and reed bunting.

15. A female cuckoo will generally lay her eggs in a nest belonging to the same species of bird that reared her.

16. Unlike most birds, female cuckoos lay their eggs in the afternoon rather than the morning.

17. Though cuckoo eggs usually resemble those of their host, around 20% are rejected so never hatch.

18. Young cuckoos do not tolerate other eggs or chicks in their nest.

19. Adult cuckoos move back to Africa as soon as the breeding season is over – as early as the second half of June in southern England.

20. Young cuckoos follow their parents back to Africa several weeks later.

21. The cuckoo spends nine months of the year in tropical Africa, where it has never been heard to sing.

Read more at https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/t/9448.aspx#7OAhjBbPHLOsMf3B.99

Hmmmm, Maybe the cuckoo picked on a wrong nest, namely the oozlem bird...which every one and his dog knows flies in ever decreasing circles until it disappears up its own Jacksie,with a cry of Eureka!
in which case the cry would be oookuc!

When I heard the cuckoo in Chapel St Leonards, it was early June and it was a very definite cuckoo sound. I didn't know it was only the male 'cuckooed'

Lizx

:-D :-D :-D :-D

So if it electrocuted itself, Jacky's in the clear :-D :-D

No, but it was just our power that had tripped. Might have been a little power surge or something.

Maybe it was that bloody woodpecker trying to peck through the outside wire and electrocuting itself!

Sharron, did you find out why you had a power outage?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITXBjDTXS90

The cuckoo calls in april
It lays it's eggs in may
In the middle of june, it changes it's tune
In july it flies away.
(There is a rude alternative to that last line)

Wasn't the deal that we should keep off each other's threads Rollo? I have kept my part.

Or you could look on the bright side, Sharron.
It could have died of old age, or been attacked by a Sparrowhawk.
Jacky could be innocent! :-D

If a cuckoo did it's own thing then it could have only one nest or poss one nest and two broods each year. Moreover it would have to hang around and feed its young ones plsu the risk of becoming lunch for a bird of prey.

By hijacking other bird's nests the cuckoo only needs to be in England for a few weeks May - September before heading back to warm, comfy Africa. During those few weeks each female can lay 10-20 eggs.

Why England ? Northern countries have long summer days which helps all kinds of migratory birds as they get 16-22 hours of daylight feeding.

Only the male has the "cuckoo" call. He is always away before the end of August.

Some British and American politicians emulate the cuckoo with great success.

If those cuckoos have the strength to fly from Africa to England and back,

I'd think they would have the strength to build their own nest ?

It was not a cuckoo after all. it was green woodpecker.

I bet it was prodding about in the ground, looking for insects and was jumped by a cat. Could have been Jacky Milburn.

Warm weather ALL the year round!!!!