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The great reed warblers' responses to the common cuckoo eggs varied: 66% accepted the egg(s); 12% ejected them; 20% abandoned the nests entirely; 2% buried the eggs. 28% of the cuckoo eggs were described as "almost perfect" in their mimesis of the host eggs, and the warblers rejected "poorly mimetic" cuckoo eggs more often.
The chestnut-breasted malkoha is typical of the Phaenicophaeinae in having brightly coloured skin around the eye.. Cuckoos are medium-sized birds that range in size from the little bronze cuckoo, at 17 g (0.6 oz) and 15 cm (6 in), to moderately large birds, ranging from 60–80 cm (24–31 in) in length, such as the giant coua of Madagascar, the coral-billed ground-cuckoo of Indochina, and ...
Like many other cuckoos, the African cuckoo is a brood parasite, the female laying her eggs in the nests of birds of other species, removing an egg already present in the nest. [3] Target hosts vary across the range, and the cuckoo's eggs usually closely match in colour and size the eggs of the host species; the yellow-billed shrike ...
The female cuckoo in each case replaces one of the host's eggs with one of her own. The cuckoo egg hatches earlier than the host's, and the chick grows faster; in most cases the cuckoo chick evicts the eggs or young of the host species. Cuculus species lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts. Female cuckoos specialise in a ...
The great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of corvids, in particular the Eurasian magpie.
The surrogate family then raise the chick. The bird lays eggs which are brown in colour and number between 20 eggs per season in different nests. [3] Like other cuckoos, the red-chested cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, leaving the parasitized birds to care for the cuckoo chicks, which they do, believing it is their own offspring.
Insectivorous, the shining bronze cuckoo eats insects that are avoided by other birds, such as caterpillars, particularly those of the magpie moth, and beetles, particularly ladybirds. The shining bronze cuckoo's gizzard is lined with a soft thick lining which catches the caterpillar spines; these fall away and are spat out by the bird. [20]
The female cuckoo lays one, sometimes two, white or bluish eggs in the host's large stick nest. The eggs hatch in 15 days, with a further 18 days until the cuckoo fledges. The young spinetails disappear. This species is about 27 cm (11 in) long and weighs 40 g (1.4 oz). The adult is mainly grey-brown above, streaked with black and buff.