Cuckoos

 PALLID CUCKOO

 

Spring has finally arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several days ago, I could hear cuckoos calling from the tops of trees along the Dry Creek, just south of Broadford. The call is very distinctive, notes rising semitone by semitone.Hence the common name 'semitone bird'. Its call is repetitive and monotonous, going on and on and on. It is sometimes called the 'brain fever' bird after this constant calling. 

 

 

All Australian cuckoos, except the Pheasant Coucal, which is not found in Victoria, are brood parasites. They lay their eggs in the nests others, leaving these smaller step parents to brood and raise the usually much larger young.

 

I have watched a Yellow Robin, feeding a young, but much larger than itself, cuckoo hatchling. How hard must it be to keep up with an ever hungry youngster of a huge size?

The semitone bird is a Pallid Cuckoo Cacomantis pallidus. Whist it is  reasonably common, it is much more visible in the Spring, during mating time, when its call,from the top of trees or posts,lets us all know to another perch and continue with its song.