Common Cuckoo
Cuculus canorus
Found in woodland, heathland, farmland with hedges, marshes with scattered bushes. "COO-koo" song (like a cuckoo clock) often given from open perch. Note long wings and tail, barred belly, rather small bill. Flight direct and often low, suggesting a hawk or falcon. Extremely similar in appearance to various other Cuculus cuckoos across its range; note the combination of white vent, staring yellow irises, and overall large size. Lays eggs in nests of other birds, particularly pipits and reed warblers, which raise the young cuckoos.
识别特征
The common cuckoo is 32–34 centimetres (13–13 in) long from bill to tail, with a tail of 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) and a wingspan of 55–60 centimetres (22–24 in). The legs are short. It has a greyish, slender body and long tail, similar to a sparrowhawk in flight, where the wingbeats are regular. During the breeding season, common cuckoos often settle on an open perch with drooped wings and raised tail. There is a rufous colour morph, which occurs occasionally in adult females but more often in juveniles. It has been hypothesized to have evolved as a deterrence to male harassment or host species mobbing.<p>All adult males are slate-grey; the grey throat extends well down the bird's breast with a sharp demarcation to the barred underparts. The iris, orbital ring, the base of the bill and feet are yellow. Grey adult females have a pinkish-buff or buff background to the barring and neck sides, and sometimes small rufous spots on the median and greater coverts and the outer webs of the secondary feathers.<p>Rufous morph adult females have reddish-brown upperparts with dark grey or black bars. The black upperpart bars are narrower than the rufous bars, as opposed to rufous juvenile birds, where the black bars are broader.<p>Common cuckoos in their first autumn have variable plumage. Some have strongly-barred chestnut-brown upperparts, while others are plain grey. Rufous-brown birds have heavily barred upperparts with some feathers edged with creamy-white. All have whitish edges to the upper wing-coverts and primaries. The secondaries and greater coverts have chestnut bars or spots. In spring, birds hatched in the previous year may retain some barred secondaries and wing-coverts. The most obvious identification features of juvenile common cuckoos are the white nape patch and white feather fringes.<p>Common cuckoos moult twice a year: a partial moult in summer and a complete moult in winter. Males weigh around 130 grams (4.6 oz) and females 110 grams (3.9 oz). The common cuckoo looks very similar to the Oriental cuckoo, which is slightly shorter-winged on average. This resemblance extends even to the rufous morphs, which are also present in Oriental cuckoos. The presence of rufous morphs may well be ancestral to both Oriental cuckoos and common cuckoos.
分类信息
The species' binomial name is derived from the Latin cuculus (the cuckoo) and canorus (melodious; from canere, meaning to sing). The cuckoo family gets its common name and genus name by onomatopoeia for the call of the male common cuckoo. The English word "cuckoo" comes from the Old French cucu, and its earliest recorded usage in English is from around 1240, in the song Sumer Is Icumen In. The song is written in Middle English, and the first two lines are: "Svmer is icumen in / Lhude sing cuccu." In modern English, this translates to "Summer has come in / Loudly sing, Cuckoo!".<p>There are four subspecies worldwide:
- 学名
- Cuculus canorus
- 命名信息
- Linnaeus, 1758
- 目
- Cuculiformes
- 科
- Cuculidae
- 属
- Cuculus
分布与栖息地
Essentially a bird of open land, the common cuckoo is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. Birds arrive in Europe in April and leave in September. The common cuckoo has also occurred as a vagrant in countries including Barbados, the United States, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Indonesia, Palau, Seychelles, Taiwan and China. Between 1995 and 2015, the distribution of cuckoos within the UK has shifted towards the north, with a decline by 69% in England but an increase by 33% in Scotland.
- 繁殖区
- PAL : widespread
- 非繁殖区
- OR, AF
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
The common cuckoo's diet consists of insects, with hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds, being a specialty of preference. It also occasionally eats eggs and chicks.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Sumatran Green-Pigeon
Treron oxyurus
Relatively plain and unmarked green-pigeon with a long pointed tail. Males have a faint orange blush on the chest, though this can be hard to notice. Note blue-green bill and “goggles” in both sexes. Completely unmarked dark olive-green wings separate this species from other green-pigeons within its range; Wedge-tailed Green-Pigeon can be similar, but note that species’ much more thickset build and shorter tail. Endemic to the hill forests of Sumatra and western Java. Like other green-pigeons, gathers in fruiting trees. Gives rising and falling series of high-pitched coos, often with a hiccuping or sobbing quality.
Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler
Pomatorhinus superciliaris
Possibly the species to which the moniker of “scimitar-babbler” attaches most fittingly, as this inhabitant of high-altitude evergreen forests has a bill shaped like a curved sword. Predominantly orange-brown, with a gray head and jagged white eyebrow. Easily identified, even if seen only in silhouette; no other babbler in its range has such a long, sharply curved bill. Moves through the lower levels of the forest in large, noisy flocks.
Tawny Fish-Owl
Ketupa flavipes
A large brown owl with wide yellow eyes and sideways-drooping ear tufts; rich tawny brown plumage with black mottling unique in its range. Always found in close proximity to rivers or lakes, usually roosting in dense waterside groves by day. Hunts fish from a low perch at dusk and at night. Hunting birds are seldom observed, as they hunt from tangles and other dense vegetation. Other horned owls in range are either much smaller (Long-eared Owl, scops-owls) or much larger (Eurasian Eagle-Owl). Pairs duet, giving 2-3 deep hoots; younger birds beg with higher-pitched screeching calls.
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