African cuckoo
| African cuckoo | ||||||||||
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African cuckoo ( Cuculus gularis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Cuculus gularis | ||||||||||
| Stephens , 1815 |
The African cuckoo ( Cuculus gularis ) belongs to the order of the cuckoo birds (Cuculiformes) and to the family of the cuckoos (Cuculidae). It occurs in the Afrotropic ecozone , its range extends from Senegal and Somalia to the South African Eastern Cape . Within its African range, the African cuckoo is partly a migratory bird that follows the rainy season. Despite the large distribution area, the species is monotypical .
Like many species of the cuckoo, it is an obligatory brood parasite that allows its offspring to be raised by host birds.
features
The African cuckoo reaches a body length of 32 centimeters. It is a long-tailed cuckoo with an average tail length of 15.5 centimeters. The cuckoo's beak has an average length of 2.3 centimeters. The body weight is between 95 and 113 grams. The overall appearance of the cuckoo is vaguely reminiscent of that of a bird of prey.
The male is slate gray to dark ash gray on the upper side of the body. The wings are pitted white on the underside. The throat and chest are pale gray. The rest of the underside of the body is white with a black and gray sparrow coat. On the belly and the lower tail-covers the sparrow-coating is less pronounced. The control springs are dark gray with black stripes and each has a white tip. The females are a little less gray on the chest and only indistinctly cuckold. In some individuals, the chest is washed out reddish-brown.
The iris is yellow in adult males and light brown in adult females. The eyelid ring and the eye ring are yellow. The beak is yellow and darkens towards the tip of the beak. The beak of the young birds is black. When hatching, nestlings are initially naked with dark purple to black skin.
The young birds come in two color morphs . Those of the gray color morphs are gray on the upper side of the body, the top of the head and the back are a little darker. There is a small white spot on the back of the head, the wings and wing covers are pale gray-brown. In the young birds of the brown color morph, the gray body plumage is brownish.
Miscommunication and voice
Among others in Central Europe occurring cuckoo is very similar to the African cuckoo and wintered in the area of distribution of this African Art The two types can be distinguished on the yellowing of the beaks. When Africans cuckoo yellowing significantly extends the upper beak beyond the nostrils.
The cuckoo breeding in Eurasia is mute in its wintering area. The calls of the African cuckoo also differ significantly from that of the cuckoo: While the cuckoo call is gu-kuuh and the second syllable is usually a minor third lower, the call of the African cuckoo is a soft uu-uuh and the second syllable is slightly higher than the first. The call is repeated more quickly and is more monotonous.
Distribution area
The distribution area of the African cuckoo occurs from Senegal and Gambia to Somalia and the Eastern Cape . On his move he follows the rainy season. He is only present for a few months of the year south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , south-east Tanzania and south Angola. In Malawi it is represented from September to April, in Zambia from the end of August to the end of May, in Uganda from March to November and in Kenya from October to May. In Ethiopia and Eritrea it can be observed from March and June. In Gambia it occurs all year round, but moves within the country's territory. In Ghana and Togo it occurs from January to September.
habitat
The African cuckoo is a bird of loose forest areas and savannahs. However, it is absent in forest areas of the lowlands, on the other hand it occurs in all savannah types including acacia savannas. Its height distribution extends up to 3000 meters. The African cuckoo is most common in regions that have an annual rainfall of more than 250 millimeters. In drier regions it only occurs during the rainy season.
food
The African cuckoo prefers to eat caterpillars, including, like many other cuckoos, very hairy caterpillars, which are avoided by other bird species. It also eats beetles and flying termites.
It finds its food both in the treetops and on the ground.
Brood Parasitism
The African cuckoo is a monogamous bird and defends a territory during the breeding season. The size of the area in the Transvaal is 60 hectares per couple. The breeding season of the African cuckoo often coincides with the rainy season. In the northeast of its range, however, the African cuckoo also breeds during the dry season.
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As with many brood parasitic cuckoos, the female removes an egg from the host bird's nest while laying eggs. The host birds in the Republic of South Africa include the Laniarius ferrugineus , Bokmakiri , Northern Fiscal Shrike , Trauerdrongo , Graubülbül , Kaprötel , Cercotrichas leucophrys and Erythropygia paena . Further breeding parasites are the damara sparrow , the yellow-beaked shrike , the gray-headed sparrow and the red-bellied gloss star . Similar to the cuckoo found in Central Europe , there seem to be female lines that specialize in individual host bird species. These lines are able to largely replicate the egg color of the host bird. This egg mimicry prevents the host bird from discovering the cuckoo egg in its clutch, either giving up the clutch, removing or pecking the egg. The eggs of the African cuckoo are colored accordingly. There are white, cream-colored, reddish-brown with a brown or mauve-colored spot or with a reddish-brown scribble.
The African cuckoo shows another adaptation that is found in many brood parasitic bird species: its nestlings hatch comparatively early - it usually takes between 12 and 17 days for a nestling to hatch from an African cuckoo's egg. As a rule, a nestling of the African cuckoo hatches earlier than the nestlings of its host bird parents. The nestlings then throw the eggs and their nesting siblings out of the nest - they are usually still blind at this point, because their eyes only open on the 8th day of life. They fledge at 20 to 23 days, but are dependent on being fed by their host bird parents for a further period of time.
Trivia
The brood parasitism of the African cuckoo has been known since the beginning of the 19th century: in 1806 the French ornithologist François Levaillant noted that in addition to the Indian koel , the cuckoo and the Jacobin cuckoo, other species of cuckoo, namely the African cuckoo , the black cuckoo and the golden cuckoo , are hatching parasites .
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
Single receipts
- ↑ a b c d Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 465.
- ↑ a b c Johnsgard: The Avian Brood Parasites . P. 191.
- ↑ Call of the African Cuckoo on Xeno-Canto , accessed on September 5, 2016
- ↑ a b c Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 466.
- ↑ Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats. P. 15.