Cuckoo (genus)

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Cuckoos
Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

Cuckoo ( Cuculus canorus )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Cuckoo birds (Cuculiformes)
Family : Cuckoos (Cuculidae)
Subfamily : Old World Cuckoos (Cuculinae)
Genre : Cuckoos
Scientific name
Cuculus
Linnaeus , 1758
Black cuckoo
cuckoo
The young bird of the hermit cuckoo is fed by a caprella .
Madagascar Cuckoo

The cuckoos ( Cuculus ) are a genus in the family of the same name, to which ten species belong. Their distribution area is Africa, Europe and Asia. In Central Europe the genus is represented by the cuckoo . Some of the species are distinct migratory birds.

All species are obligatory brood parasites that have their offspring raised by host birds. The brood parasitism of the cuckoo was already known to Aristotle , for the other species within the genus this was not established until the 19th and 20th centuries.

The population situation of all species including those only endemic to islands is indicated with LC (= least concern - not endangered).

features

The males of the cuckoos are gray, gray-blue or gray-brown to black on the upper body and are usually whitish with a dark sparrow-hue on the lower body. The darkest type is the black cuckoo , which is glossy black and black-brown on the upper side of the body and is cross-banded with dense red to black-brown cross-bands on the underside of the body. Reddish brown plumage on the upper side of the body occurs only in female color morphs of the gackle cuckoo and the hop cuckoo . The sexual dimorphism is otherwise only present in this genus to a small extent. The wings of most species are pointed.

The smallest species is the gackle cuckoo with a body length of 25 centimeters . The three largest species are the cuckoo , the hoofed cuckoo and the short-winged cuckoo with a body length of 32 to 34 centimeters . The wings of most species are pointed.

Distribution area

The smallest distribution areas within the genus have the Minahassakuckuck and the Sundakuckuck. The Minahassakuckuck occurs exclusively in Sulawesi , the Sundakuckuck is common on several islands of the Malay Archipelago . The Madagascar cuckoo breeds exclusively in Madagascar. With the exception of a few individuals remaining on the island, however, it can be observed in the east of the African continent from April to September.

The black cuckoo and the African cuckoo are limited in their range to sub-Saharan Africa . In parts of their range they are resident birds, but in a much larger part they follow the rainy season.

Cuckoos with a very large distribution area are cuckoo, hopfkuckuck and gackelkuckuck. The cuckoo is the most common species and occurs in Eurasia from Western Europe and North Africa to Kamchatka and Japan . He is a long-distance migrant who winters in Africa south of the equator . The distribution area of ​​the Hopf cuckoo largely overlaps that of the cuckoo, but it is absent in Western Europe. Its wintering areas are in Southeast Asia. The cuckoo cuckoo occurs from eastern Afghanistan across southeast China to northern Japan. Parts of the population migrate over the Indian Ocean to eastern Africa during the winter months.

Way of life

Hairy caterpillars play a major role in the cuckoo's diet - these are usually avoided by other bird species. They also eat a number of other insects such as beetles and grasshoppers, as well as eggs and nestlings of the bird species they parasitize. The host bird species that successfully raise the cuckoo's nestlings are basically also insect eaters. The caprod , which is a frequent host bird of the hermit cuckoo in South Africa, also feeds its nestlings with very hairy caterpillars, which are normally not part of its diet. Even if there is repeated evidence of eggs in nests of bird species that live on seeds for the Eurasian cuckoo, there is no evidence that non-insectivorous passerine birds have successfully reared cuckoo young birds in Europe. According to Edgar Chance's field studies, such egg-laying can be traced back to the fact that a female cuckoo is ready to lay, but no nests of preferred host bird species are available.

The cuckoos have a number of adaptations that enable them to lay eggs successfully. This includes a secret approach to the nest and a quick deposit of a single egg. For the cuckoo it has been proven that the females of the cuckoo only need 10 seconds to lay their egg. In addition, the so-called egg mimicry occurs with cuckoos: The size and color of the cuckoo's egg is adapted to a preferred host bird species. This reduces the risk that the parasitized species will discover the foreign egg in the clutch and remove or peck. According to the current state of knowledge, this host-specific adaptation performance is inherited via female lines. This has been proven for the particularly well-studied cuckoo: on their W sex chromosomes (as with other birds, females have ZW chromosomes, males ZZ chromosomes), both the preference for a certain host bird species (e.g. the common redstart with a bluish tinge) Clutch) as well as the color (bluish) and pattern (uniform) of the egg. The males of the cuckoo, on the other hand, do not carry any genetic information regarding egg color, pattern and host species. Erhitzøe assumes two to eight different host-specific lines for the hermit cuckoo.

The nestlings of the Cuculus species hatch after a breeding period that is usually shorter than that of the host bird species. The nestlings are naked and blind when they hatch. During the first days of life and usually before the eyes have opened, they throw the eggs and nestlings of the host parents out of the nest by shoveling movements in the nest.

species

The genus includes the following species:

The pale cuckoo ( Heteroscenes pallidus ) is no longer counted in the genus Cuculus , but in its own, monotypical genus.

Cuckoos and humans

Utagawa Hiroshige : Gackelkuckuck , 1830

Because of their breeding behavior and their conspicuous calls, cuckoos are among the bird species that play a special role in the human imagination. In Greek mythology , the cuckoo is an attribute of the Hera . Because of its brood parasitism, the cuckoo is also linked in many ways to sexual infidelity. In the German language this is reflected in the term " Kuckuckskind ", i. H. a child whose social father is not the biological one because the mother fathered him with another man and made the child and his social father believe that they were blood relatives. In the English language the verb "to cuckold" means to horn someone or to make someone a cuckold. In the English and French languages, the noun “cuckold” or “cocu” does not only stand for the bird, but also for the cuckold or betrayed husband. in the English poetry of the Elizabethan period and the early modern period, the cuckoo is often contrasted with the nightingale because they represent different forms of love. While the nightingale stands for true devotion, the cuckoo is the symbol of faithless lust.

Because of its singing, often called “passionate”, the cuckoo cuckoo is the subject of numerous so-called waka , traditional Japanese poems. This is already reflected in Man'yōshū , the first large Japanese collection of poems, the oldest of which was written in the 4th century. In Western Europe, too, the call of the cuckoo is often associated with spring, and the first cuckoo call heard is associated with a series of superstitious acts. In Africa, on the other hand, the hermit cuckoo heralds seasonal changes. It is an interior African migratory bird whose first appearance in a region coincides with the beginning of the rainy season.

literature

  • Mark Cocker, David Tipling: Birds and People . Jonathan Cape, London 2013, ISBN 978-0-2240-8174-0 .
  • NB Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats . T & AD Poyser, London 2000, ISBN 0-85661-135-2 .
  • Joseph del Hoyo, Andrew Elliot, David Christie (Eds.): Handbook of the Birds of the World . Volume 4: Sandgrouse To Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 1997. ISBN 84-87334-22-9 . Pp. 588 and 589.
  • 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 .
  • Robert B. Payne: The Cuckoos . Oxford University Press 2005. (Bird Families of the World No. 15) ISBN 0-19-850213-3 : Plate 1; Pp. 3-136 and 238-242.

Web links

Commons : Cuckoo ( Cuculus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats. P. 14.
  2. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . Pp. 455 and 468.
  3. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 455.
  4. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . Pp. 459 and 468.
  5. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 473.
  6. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 463.
  7. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 456.
  8. ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 449.
  9. ↑ a b Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 453.
  10. ^ Stanley Cramp, KEL Simmons: Handbook or the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: the Birds of the Western Palearctic. Vol. 4: Terns to Woodpeckers. Oxford University Press, 1985, ISBN 0-19-857507-6 . P. 407.
  11. ↑ a b Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats. P. 31 and 32.
  12. ↑ Frode Fossøy, Michael D. Sorenson, Wei Liang, Torbjørn Ekrem, Arne Moksnes, Anders P. Møller, Jarkko Rutila, Eivin Røskaft, Fugo Takasu, Canchao Yang, Bård G. Stokke: Ancient origin and maternal inheritance of blue cuckoo eggs . In: Nature Communications , Volume 7, Article Number 10272, January 12, 2016, doi : 10.1038 / ncomms10272 .
  13. ↑ Handbook of the Birds of the World zum Blasskuckuck , accessed November 25, 2017
  14. ↑ Cocker, Tipling: Birds and People , S. 264th
  15. ↑ Cocker, Tipling: Birds and People , S. 266th
  16. ↑ Cocker, Tipling: Birds and People , S. 268th