On New Year's day, a Shining Cuckoo flew into the window and broke its tiny neck. I had heard these beautiful birds since the beginning of Spring with their swooping, whistling calls, up the scale and then down. I can remember how my father would mimic the whistle saying that the downward call at the end meant it was going to rain! But really, it heralds Spring.
He had a book of Buller's Birds and, looking at the pictures, I had always thought the Shining Cuckoo was quite a large bird, but this one could have been a juvenile. It was smaller than a blackbird and slimmer than a thrush. My daughter brought the bird to me and as I held it to admire the glorious shining green on its back and the soft brown barred tummy, I could still feel the warmth of its tiny body. These beautiful birds arrive here in New Zealand around September or October, from the Pacific Islands
The Shining Cuckoo is a clever bird. She doesn't build a nest, but rather, she lays her one egg in the nest of the little grey warbler, a tiny, tiny bird with a song that is so easily recognisable - a great succession of high trills.. The cuckoo's hatchling is bigger than its fellow hatchlings and so it tends to be fed the most. It also kicks the other nestlings from their home and I suspect its foster parents are utterly exhausted having to continue feeding the trespasser.
I know how they feel.
He had a book of Buller's Birds and, looking at the pictures, I had always thought the Shining Cuckoo was quite a large bird, but this one could have been a juvenile. It was smaller than a blackbird and slimmer than a thrush. My daughter brought the bird to me and as I held it to admire the glorious shining green on its back and the soft brown barred tummy, I could still feel the warmth of its tiny body. These beautiful birds arrive here in New Zealand around September or October, from the Pacific Islands
The Shining Cuckoo is a clever bird. She doesn't build a nest, but rather, she lays her one egg in the nest of the little grey warbler, a tiny, tiny bird with a song that is so easily recognisable - a great succession of high trills.. The cuckoo's hatchling is bigger than its fellow hatchlings and so it tends to be fed the most. It also kicks the other nestlings from their home and I suspect its foster parents are utterly exhausted having to continue feeding the trespasser.
I know how they feel.
No comments:
Post a Comment