All species › Cuckoos
Cuckoos | Cuculiformes
Koekoeksvogels | Cucos
Slender birds with a long, graduated tail and pointed wings, and a zygodactyl foot: two toes forward and two back, the outer toe being turned to the rear. That grip holds a branch firmly but walks badly, so the birds move almost entirely on the wing and spend much of their time sitting in cover. The slightly decurved bill opens into a wide gape; the diet is largely insects, including the hairy caterpillars most birds leave alone — the hairs lodge in the stomach lining, which is periodically shed and renewed. The call is simple, much repeated and audible at a distance, and serves to hold ground; the sexes are alike and often grey with barred underparts.
Families in this order
- Cuckoos | Cuculidae2 speciesMost species do not raise their own young: in a few seconds the female lays a single egg in the nest of a much smaller bird and removes one of the host's eggs as she goes. A female is tied to one host species and lays eggs that match it in colour and marking; the shell is thick and incubation short, so her chick hatches first. It grows far beyond its foster parents and either heaves the remaining eggs over the rim of the nest or simply commandeers everything that is brought in. There is no pair bond and no care of the nest: the adults often leave the breeding grounds in midsummer, well before the young, which set off alone some weeks later.