Long-Tailed Cuckoo

March 25, 2011

The Long-tailed Cuckoo is a protected native bird of New Zealand, and we don’t have them brought in to The Sanctuary very often. This one hit a window and has spinal damage. We’re feeding him on mealworms, and have taken him to Auckland for Bowen Therapy. The fascinating things about cuckoos is that they lay their eggs in the nests of other species of birds. The cuckoo eggs hatch before those of the host do, and the young cuckoo chick ejects the eggs of the host so they won’t have any competition. You sometimes see a set of tiny exhausted waxeye parents struggling to feed their giant cuckoo chick! When the chicks are ready to leave the nest, they listen for the call of adult cuckoos. Then they abandon their hard-working adoptive parents to join the other cuckoos. It’s the ultimate in delegation!!