30/05/2022
Brood Parasitism
Cuckoos are the evil geniuses of the animal kingdom.. Instead of build the nest of their own and investing all their time and efforts into raising their offspring, the cuckoos palm off their chicks to other species and let them do the hard work.
The species that take on the task of raising the cuckoos chick are unaware that they have been duped into sacrificing their time and energy, and treat the imposters as their own! This behaviour is known as BROOD PARASITISM!
The idea in theory is a great one but how do you persuade a bird of an entirely different species to undertake such a role ? The first issue that the cuckoos face is how to get their egg into the host nest in the first place. Birds are the same as all other animals and will protect their homes at all costs, chasing off potential predators and competitors alike.
To counteract this, the cuckoos have a unique method of gaining access to the nest. In facts, they they are the special forces of the avian world.
A female Cuckoo will loiter close to the nest of a potential host, unseen and unheard. The male cuckoo will make itself known to the host bird and because the target recognizes the threat, it follows animal protocol and takes off after the male believing that it is eradicating the danger. This leaves the nest momentarily unattended and the female simply emerges from her concealed position and takes advantage of the time space that the male has given her.
The window of opportunity is only small however as the host bird will soon return to the nest and her clutch. Therefore the cuckoos has one of the shortest egg- laying times of all bird species and can lay her egg in as little as 10 seconds!
As most of the species are smaller than the cuckoo, the small egg also helps to continue the charade that nothing is amiss... However, some birds can count and would notice an addition to their clutch. The cunning cuckoo counteracts this by removing an existing egg thereby leaving the numbers the same. The host returns, proud of its achievement of chasing away the threat and settles down to incubate the imposter egg in addition to its own.