Cuckoo nestling rules these wagtails’ roost
A SHERWOOD youngster is throwing his weight around – but his foster parents keep egging him on.
In fact, the fledgling red-chested cuckoo has not yet been sexed, but its combative behaviour seems to indicate plenty of testosterone.
Stafford Street resident Cornel Volschenk said the drama in his garden started tranquilly about two months go, when a pair of wagtails laid eggs in a nest they had made in a small palm.
“Two baby wagtails hatched, grew up and flew away,” he said.
“I had thought all the eggs were finished but then about two weeks ago my wife Belinda saw a big black bird in the nest.
“It seemed very healthy and strong and much bigger than the wagtails.
“Every 15 to 30 minutes the mom and dad wagtail would bring it a worm or a little spider and it would gobble them down.
“We didn’t know what it was, but then I did some Googling and realised what we were seeing.”
According to the Iziko Biodiversity Explorer, the red-chested cuckoo or Piet-my-vrou is a brood parasite, meaning that it lays its eggs in other bird nests.
“The host, thinking the egg is its own, incubates the egg and cares for the chick.”
There are 15 South African bird species that the cuckoo has identified as suitable foster parents for its guerilla breeding but the Cape robin is favourite – closely followed by the wagtail.
According to Iziko, “the female cuckoo often has a hard time getting into the host's nest, as it is mobbed and attacked. Once in the nest, it can remove the host’s egg and lay one of its own in less than five seconds.”
The young cuckoo may stay up to three weeks with its foster parents, during which time it will evict any surviving host eggs or nestlings.