PHILIP VAN DEN BERG (U34) writes:
The small glossy-green Diederik Cuckoo (above) is a widespread member of the
cuckoo family. Like other cuckoos, it is an intra-African migrant that arrives
in our village in early summer when the shrill ‘dee-dee-deederic’
call of the male can be heard. Like other cuckoos, the Diederik Cuckoo is a
brood parasite, but it has taken this extraordinary breeding strategy to a remarkable
level of sophistication.
Unlike most other brood parasites it has a wide range of hosts, but the three top hosts are common birds such as the Southern Red Bishop, Southern Masked Weaver (below), and Cape Sparrow.
Most remarkable is that the eggs match the hosts. This is egg mimicry par excellence! When the female lays her egg, she eats or ejects other eggs. The cuckoo’s egg has a short incubation period, and should there still be the hosts’ chick, the cuckoo chick will evict them and receive the undivided attention of the hosts.
The more scientists unravel nature's complexities, the more our appreciation of our marvelous living world becomes!
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