Cuckoo
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Cape cuckoo ( Clamator levaillantii ) |
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| ( Swainson , 1829) |
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The cap cuckoo ( Clamator levaillantii ) is a species of the cuckoo bird family, which belongs to the so-called crested cuckoos . He is a medium-sized, slender cuckoo that is native to Africa. Its distribution area extends from Senegal and Somalia to Namibia and South Africa. In parts of its African distribution area it is a migratory bird. Despite its large distribution area, the Cape Cuckoo is considered to be monotypical .
Like many species within the cuckoo, the cap cuckoo is an obligatory breeding parasite that does not raise its offspring itself. Host birds mostly belong to the timalia .
The specific epithet levaillantii is reminiscent of the French naturalist and explorer François Levaillant . The stock situation of the cuckoo is given as 
(= least concern - not endangered), since the species is sometimes frequent in its range and no noticeable decline in the stock can be recorded.
features
The cuckoo reaches a body length of 39 centimeters, with the tail accounting for an average of around 22 centimeters. The beak has a length of 2.6 centimeters. The males weigh between 106 and 140 grams, the females between 102 and 141 grams.
There is no pronounced gender dimorphism . Both males and females have a glossy black head from the base of the beak over the eyes to the neck, the bonnet and the top of the body. The otherwise black wings each have a striking white mirror that is formed by the base of the outer hand wings .
The underside of the body is matt white to cream-colored. Throat and the sides of the neck are noticeably dashed in black. The dark lines on the chest are individually variable, but in principle they are lighter than on the throat and sides of the neck. the tail is stepped, the black feathers have white tips on. The flanks and hips are also darkened. The tail is tiered, the black tail feathers white white tips.
There is a rare color morph in East Africa that is completely black except for the wing mirrors and the reduced white tail tips.
Young birds are either more dull in color than the adult birds or have a rust-brown to occasionally even cinnamon-colored plumage. The shiny black plumage develops five to six weeks after they fledge, but the feathers are initially smaller. The wing mirror is initially missing, and the white tail tips are initially not very pronounced. The nestlings are naked when they hatch and initially have a strong pink skin and thus resemble the nestlings of the typical host birds. After 5 days, the skin color is blackish.
In Africa the distribution area of the Cape cuckoo overlaps with the similar-looking Jacobin cuckoo , which also belongs to the crested cuckoo genus. The Jacobin Cuckoo is smaller, has a shorter tail, a white throat and chest.
Distribution area
The habitat of the Cape cuckoo stretches from Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia to Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. In a southerly direction it extends to the north of Maibai, the Transvaal, Natal and occasionally to the Eastern Cape . In large parts of the distribution area there are both resident and migratory birds.
The cape cuckoo moves to the south of its range in the period October to March or April. It moves to the northern part of its range until mid-May and leaves it again in the months of July to August.
habitat
The Cape Cuckoo prefers densely overgrown, humid savannah areas. It can also be found in the grass-thorn-bush savannah, in sparse forests along rivers, in the acacia savannah, in gardens and on tree-lined agricultural areas. In East Africa, he basically stays in regions that have a rainfall of more than 500 millimeters. It occurs there occasionally up to an altitude of 2100 meters.
Way of life
During the breeding season, the Cape Cuckoo can usually be seen in pairs or in small flocks of up to four birds. Basically, it is a rather inconspicuous bird, but stands out for its clear, fluting piu calls, which are repeated up to 21 times. Other calls are harsh kur , kur , kur calls, which are repeated up to 12 times.
The males show a territorial behavior, in the females this is only weak. Cap cuckoos, signaling their territorial boundaries, sit in a horizontal posture on branches, the bonnet is raised and the tail points upwards. The wings are often spread, the calls accompanied by a nodding head movement.
food
The cuckoo mainly eats insects. Hairy caterpillars play a particularly important role, as is typical for many cuckoos. The cape cuckoo also eats flying termites and ants, beetle larvae, grasshoppers and crickets.
Reproduction
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Like all species of the crested cuckoo, cap cuckoos are obligatory brood parasites. The eggs of this species are oval and slightly more rounded than those of most host bird parents. The eggshells weigh 0.5 grams and are 0.16 millimeters thick. Similar to the Jacobin cuckoo, the Cape cuckoo lays turquoise-blue eggs, the color of which corresponds to most of the host bird species.
The host bird's nests occasionally have more than one egg of this cuckoo species, because not only one female of the cap cuckoo has parasitized her nest. When laying eggs, an egg is usually picked by the female or even removed from the nest. The host birds usually belong to the timalia family , a particularly heavily parasitized bird species within this family is the brown tailed . In Zambia, 7.5 percent of all brown-tailed nests also contain eggs of this cuckoo species.
One of the typical behaviors of the Cape cuckoo is that the male distracts the host birds and the female inconspicuously lays an egg in the nest during this time. This behavior is typical of many brood parasitic bird species. It is also typical that the female only needs a few seconds to lay eggs. Another characteristic behavior of a brood parasitic cuckoo is that the female destroys an egg in the host bird's nest - to do this she either picks it or carries it out of the nest and drops it outside. Johngard notes that most timalias are aware of the presence of a cuckoo's egg in their nest. Several cases have been documented, especially for brown offshoots, that they give up their nest immediately after egg-laying by a female cuckoo. This also happens when they have not only completed their clutch, but have already started incubating.
The nestlings hatch after an incubation period of 11 days. The comparatively short incubation period is an indication that incubation is already taking place in the fallopian tube. The begging cry of the nestlings is similar to that of the brown offspring.
Contrary to what is usual with the cuckoo native to Central Europe , the nestlings of the Cape cuckoo neither throw eggs nor the other nestlings out of the nest. However, they grow up faster than their nesting sister and are therefore more assertive when begging for feed. In a nest parasitized by the cap cuckoo, a smaller number of nestlings of the host bird grow accordingly. The nestlings of the cape cuckoo grow quickly and can fledge after nine to 10 days. Fledgling young birds of the Cape cuckoo are, however, dependent on the feeding of the host bird parents for another three to five weeks.
literature
- NB Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats. T & AD Poyser, London 2000, ISBN 0-85661-135-2 .
- Johannes Erhitzøe, Clive F. Mann, Frederik P. Brammer, Richard A. Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. Christopher Helm, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-7136-6034-0 .
- Paul A. Johnsgard: The Avian Brood Parasites - Deception at the Nest. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997, ISBN 0-19-511042-0 .
Web links
- Cuckoo calls on Xeno-Canto
- Clamator levaillantii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed September 6, 2016th
Single receipts
- ↑ Johnsgard: The Avian Brood Parasites . P. 150.
- ↑ a b c d Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 267.
- ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins: Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds . Christopher Helm, London 2003, ISBN 0-7136-6647-1 , pp. 205 .
- ↑ Clamator levaillantii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2012. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed September 6, 2016th
- ^ A b Johnsgard: The Avian Brood Parasites. P. 151.
- ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. P. 270.
- ↑ a b c d Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. P. 268.
- ↑ Cuckoo Cuckoo on Xeno-Canto , accessed on September 6, 2016.
- ↑ a b Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. P. 269.
- ↑ a b c d e Johnsgard: The Avian Brood Parasites. P. 152.