Bird Cuckoo: Description for schoolchildren, photo, voice of a bird

In this article you will find a description of a cuckoo bird. You will find out what kind of she is, what she eats, how her chicks grow.

Content

At school, children study different flora and fauna. The most interesting species are animals and birds. The cuckoo lives in the forest, as well as next to our houses in cities on trees. What is this bird? What does she eat? How is it screaming? Read more answers to these and other questions in the article below.

What does a cuckoo bird look like: description, its dimensions, photo close -up

Read on our site an article about the Sapsan bird. It has information about the appearance, behavior of this predator, food and various interesting facts.

Cuckoo is a representative of a large and diverse Kukushkov family, numbering about 140 species. These birds live in all parts of the world, excluding Antarctica. What does the bird look like? Description, its size:

Cuckoos that live on different continents are different in size and color.
The smallest species have body length 15 cm, and the largest reaches 60 more.
Color from plain gray to variegated with brown, orange, and even green interspersed.

Here is a close -up photo:

The most famous and common look in our forests is the ordinary cuckoo (lat. Cuculus Canorus). It is thanks to the wedding song "Ku-ku, ku-ku", a male of this species, a family and owes its name.

Continuation:

Ordinary cuckoo - medium -sized, proportional forms of a bird, the average weight of which is 140 g (100-180 g), total length 32-34 cm, with a wingspan from 55 to 65 cm.
Males differ in slightly larger sizes and weight than females.
The color color of female and male individuals is different. The male has a dark gray color, the lower chest part is white with dark stripes, the throat area is ash-gray. The steering feathers are whitish-gray with a clear white tip.
Female individuals of the species have two colors. Some are very similar to males, but have brownish feathers on their back and throat.
The latter-very different in color: a dark orange back and a white breast with dark strips of dark color. Tail -shaped tail, size 11-15 cm.
The wings are long ( up to 20 cm), pointed to the end, gray with a brown tint.
The legs of the cuckoo are small, yellow, have a long hard plumage ending in the very fingers with sharp claws.
The location of the fingers on the paws: Two look forward, and two ago - helps the bird steadily sitting on a tree, tenaciously capturing the branch.
But with such legs a cuckoo is difficult to move around the ground.
A small dark beak has the shape of a hook bent down.
The eyes of yellow or gray, surrounded by a leathery ring of orange color.
Despite the fact that rarely someone did not hear cuppet, the bird is mostly silent.
Cuckoo singing can be heard in the marriage period from May to July.

The cuckoo lives in nature about 10 years.

In which birds does the cuckoo lay eggs?

Cuckoo lays eggs in nests of different birds

Cuckooes do not curl and do not build their own nests, being nesting parasites. This is due to the physiological characteristics of the bird. The cuckoo does not at the same time as many birds, but with a break in 3-5 days. During the summer, the female is able to postpone 10-15 eggs, and for the hatching of chicks she would need 2 months Do not leave the nest. In addition, the bird simply could not feed so much cuckoo. Therefore, for growing their children, the cuckoo selects their adoptive parents:

The cuckoo puts its egg not in the first nest that fall, but carefully selects future educators for its offspring.
Moreover, the search for a suitable pair begins at the stage of building a nest by them.
More often she tries to leave her egg to the type of birds that she herself was fed.
When laying the egg, the male helps the female.
He flies around someone else's nest, depicting a predator and driving away the owners.
As soon as they fly away, the female cuckoo puts her egg in the nest, she needs only 15 seconds.
Simultaneously with the deposit of his own, the cuckoo destroys the master's egg.
In each nest, the bird throws only one of its eggs. Therefore, future parents, returning to the nest, do not notice the substitutions and continue to hatch the chicks.
The cuckoon that appears gets rid of both eggs and already hatched chicks, remaining the only subject of care of foster parents.

In which birds does the cuckoo lay eggs? The adoptive parents of the cuckoo are a large number of various birds that feed the chicks by putting the feed into the beak. More often parents become cuckoo: they become:

Locking
Reeds
Zaryanka
Flycatches
Slavka
Pubcisions
Swifts
Sparrows
Backders
Chekans
Redstart
Other birds of the family of sparrows

The evolutionary development endowed the cuckoo with an amazing ability to lay eggs, repeating the size or color of those instead of which they are put. Therefore, the eggs of an ordinary cuckoo differ significantly in size, from 15 to 23 mm, and coloring - described 1117 species (from white to saturated blue, large and small-fledged).

How does a cuckoo chick grow?

When the cuckoo chick grows, it pushes all the other eggs out of the nest

Total 11-12 days The development of cuckoo eggs continues, so her chick hatches earlier, starting his struggle for survival. How does a cuckoo chick grow?

The cuckoo is born completely blind and naked, there is no embryonic fluff, the weight is 2.5 -3.5 g.
The first 4-5 days Reception parents not only feed, but also heat the baby.
As soon as he was born, the cuckoo chick is trying to get rid of eggs or already hatched chicks.
He pushes out the eggs of his adoptive parents through the edge of the nest.
In a similar way, he attaches to the chick, pushing him to the edge, and throws it away.
He performs all his actions involuntarily, this instinct is manifested in the Kukushnka the first 4 days, disappearing later.
The chick is distinguished by extraordinary gluttony. Moreover, in order to stimulate their adoptive parents to intensive feeding, the cub publishes special loud cries that mimic the voices of the master's chicks.

These loud calls often attract predators ruining bird nests and destroying chicks. Although at the age of three weeks, the chicks begin to fly, they continue to eat at the expense of their educators. Only six weeks later, from the birth of Kukuts, they leave the nest of their parents who fed them.

What birds belong to the cuckoo: genus, view

Detailed information about the form of these birds. Ordinary cuckoo:

Rod - cuckoo
Subfamily - real cuckoos
The family is cuckoo
The detachment is cuckoo -shaped
Class - birds

The Kukushkov family includes 6 subfamily, 28 genera and more than 140 species. Cuckoos are the most numerous family numbering 15 speciesincluding an ordinary cuckoo.

Cuckoo migratory bird or settled?

Cuckoos - migratory birds. They are not sedentary. In places of their reproduction, they do not conduct more than 3-4 months. Before wintering, birds overcome the distance to 6 thousand kilometers, fly mainly at night, flying per day about 80 kilometers. Thus they spend on the way 2-2.5 months.

An ordinary cuckoo chooses wintering places:

Africa countries
India
The southern territories of China
Ceylon

Choosing a wintering place, cuckoos are trying to find settlements similar to relatives, so they never winter in the desert. Interestingly, adult birds fly away to wintering immediately after laying the eggs. That is, a month earlier than young cuckoos that go to the flight in late August - early September, and independently find the way to the places of wintering.

What is the name of the husband of the cuckoo bird: male

The name of the bird is a cuckoo, has no options for consumption in a male gender. The husband of this bird is called "Cuckoo male". Similarly, a male of magpies, tits, jackdaws, etc.

Is a cuckoo poultry harmful?

There are no useless animals or plants in nature. It seems harmful at first glance, they turn out to be an important component of the ecosystem.

So with a cuckoo - this not very large in size bird destroys a large number of forest pests. She has excellent appetite: in an hour can eat before 100 caterpillars, per day - to 1500 pieces. Moreover, harmful and poisonous insects become her food, which other birds do not eat:

Ticks
Pine silkworms
Womb caterpillars

The cuckoo is considered a nurse of the forest. It almost completely cleanses its habitat from pests, and, like a wolf among animals, limits the bird population, maintaining its optimal level.

Ordinary bird cuckoo: interesting facts

Name "cuckoo" comes from the well -known song "Ku-ku, ku-ku"which is not like singing any other bird. You will find other interesting facts about an ordinary poultry of a cuckoo below.

A bird known in the world since ancient times in different countries has a similar name, similar to the sounds it pronounced:

In Bulgaria, it is called "Kukovitsa"
Germany - "Kukuch"
Czech Republic - "Kukach"
Romania - "Cukul"
Italy - "Kukulo"

Latin name - Cuculus Canorus, comes from two words: Cuculus (cuckoo) and Canorus (melodic; from Canre - to sing).

Interesting features distinguish an ordinary cuckoo:

The cuckoo from year to year is returned to the past place of residence, and it is to its territorial site.
The bird is subject to molting twice a year: partial - in the summer and full -fledged in winter.
If it is impossible to demolish the egg immediately into the nest, the bird can put it nearby, and then, taking it into the beak, deliver to the nest to the selected future parents.

Cases of laying the egg thus even in the hollows of trees were noted.

Hares of interesting birds of cuckoo: Description

The cuckoo leads a daytime but secretive lifestyle. She is very careful, hides among the branches of tall trees and flies away when people approach. The main part of the time of the cuckoo is engaged in the extraction of food, upholstered in dense thickets, only occasionally going down to the ground for prey. Due to the features of the structure of the paws, the bird on the ground practically does not move and does not leave traces there. But she feels great in the air, her flight is light and swift. Here's another description of the habits of an interesting cuckoo bird:

She is silent for the overwhelming part of the year and prefers a lonely secluded existence.
Such a lifestyle is violated only in time of marriage, from the end of spring and almost until the end of summer.
At this moment, birds begin to show interest in each other, forming seasonal couples.
During marriage games, fierce fights of males occur. Birds become noisy, dissolve the tails with a fan, trying to attract the attention of females.
Famous "Ku-ku, ku-ku" - This is the dominant marriage of the male.
Females are also singing during this period, but their singing is compared with gurgling trill, or with a low vibrating whistle.

Bird songs are loud, heard at a distance of two kilometers, long and sonorous in a male, more quiet in a female. The couple’s relations are distinguished by romanticism: in gratitude for the choice, the male gives his chosen one a stalk or twig.

Bird of the Cuckoo family: what is it eaten?

Family "Cuckoos" - The birds are omnivorous. They can eat both animal and plant origin. What do they eat? The main part of the animal diet is insects:

Caterpillars
Beetles
Mosquitoes
Grasshopers
Slugs
Ticks
Spiders
Larvae of ants
Snails
Butterflies
Worms

In addition to insects, the prey of certain species of cuckoo are young lizards, snakes, frogs, small rodents, they are not averse to enjoying bird eggs. And, although cuckoos prefer animal food, their diet may include fruits of various shrubs and trees. It is worth knowing:

Cuckoo, unlike other birds, can use toxic insects as food, including furry caterpillars covered with poisonous chitin hairs.
The poison of caterpillars is detrimental to almost all birds, they are eaten only by cuckoos and an Oriole.
They adapted to remove the poisonous intestine of the insect before eating it.
Cuckoo, albeit medium -sized, but very voracious birds.
They devote all their free time to the search and eating food.
And if it weren’t for cuckoo, capable of destroying one and a half thousand caterpillars, beetles and larvae per day, trees would be left without foliage. Their immoderate appetite helps to accumulate subcutaneous fat, which is necessary for flight during migration.

They look out for their prey cuckoo, sitting on a tree. Possessing good vision, they are able to discern her at a distance 45 m. Cuckooes are able to catch and eat an insect both on the fly, and picking it up from a tree or earth.

What is the bird like a cuckoo?

The cuckoo has similar features with many birds. What is the bird like a cuckoo?

Back in ancient times, its similarity with the hawk was noted. Indeed, the appearance of the bird: the coloring of the plumage, the shape of the head and the style of flight resemble a falcon or hawk. This resemblance helps cuckoos in scaring birds, in the nests of which she is going to put her eggs.
In size, the bird resembles a dove, but it has a more aristocratic addition.

The structure of the paws of the cuckoo with the diametrically opposite arrangement of the fingers brings it closer to woodpeckers, owls or parrots.

On what trees loves to sing a cuckoo: birch

As you know, the cuckoo sings only during marriage courtship, therefore, its place of singing is limited to the zone of the subsequent distribution of the layered eggs. On what trees loves to sing a cuckoo?

This cautious bird prefers to settle in mixed forests. Observing silence and caution, the cuckoo can be seen on the forest edge sitting on a birch. Also, the bird is often noticed on larch, mountain ash, pine, and Iva. If you saw a tree with a large number of caterpillars in the forest, know a cuckoo nearby and will definitely come to the rescue.

How he sings, screams a cuckoo, a bird's voice: video

Everyone knows very well how the cuckoo sings and screams. You can listen to this endlessly. The voices of males and females are different. In the video below you will hear the voice of this bird.