How does the diederik cuckoo ‘know’ what colour egg to lay

How does the diederik cuckoo ‘know’ what colour egg to lay? It is summer now, and the “die die diederik” call of the onomatopoeic diederik cuckoo is heard throughout the bushveld. These birds migrate from equatorial regions of Africa in spring, arriving in South Africa starting in October and peaking when the rains come. Their […]

Diederik cuckoo – observations and photos of mating rituals and nest intrusions

The unmistakeable, loud deed-deed-deed-deed-er-ick call of the diederik cuckoo, Chrysococcyx caprius, is a characteristic of the spring and summer landscape of southern Africa. The species is an intra-African migrant, tending to follow the rains, returning to southern Africa in September-October (mainly October, thought to be timed for the breeding season of its Ploceidae hosts). It […]