This beautiful cuckoo flew into my studio window and stunned itself. It was standing on the ground in a stunned state and when I put my finger in front of it, it hopped on! It perched calmly on my hand while I dripped a few drops of sugar water into its beak and carried it around the house to find my camera. It eventually came round after about twelve or so minutes and flew off. Later in the season, over a period of several days, I watched a frantic Superb Blue Wren trying to satisfy the appetite of a baby cuckoo already bigger than itself as it perched calmly among the brambles.
fantastic! these look so much like the shining cuckoo’s that migrate to NZ from the islands during spring! i have been trying to photograph one for years but they are incredibly shy! the other interesting point you raise is that cucukoo’s are notorious for laying their eggs in other birds nests, to be raised by other birds. it is strange but i guess that means they get more nights ‘out on the town’ lol – great work.
I’m not sure about ‘out on the town’- this one was pretty much ‘out for the count’. :) At the moment there are Channel-billed cuckoos passing through my place. They are here for a couple of days most years as they head south (from New Guinea I think). They are very big and verrry noisy.see hereand here
Comments
oh, the dear little thing…so trusting…i love his striped breast!
Oh wow, what a cute little bird, and yes, so trusting! It must have been a wonderful feeling to hold a bird like that.
What a great find, at least he is OK, well done.
fantastic! these look so much like the shining cuckoo’s that migrate to NZ from the islands during spring! i have been trying to photograph one for years but they are incredibly shy! the other interesting point you raise is that cucukoo’s are notorious for laying their eggs in other birds nests, to be raised by other birds. it is strange but i guess that means they get more nights ‘out on the town’ lol – great work.
I’m not sure about ‘out on the town’- this one was pretty much ‘out for the count’. :)
At the moment there are Channel-billed cuckoos passing through my place. They are here for a couple of days most years as they head south (from New Guinea I think). They are very big and verrry noisy.see here and here
– EnPassant
WOW. those are serious birds! i learned a new term too – ‘brood parasite’ which is when they lay in others nests. pretty cool site.