Cuckoo General Knowledge Facts Information

Cuckoos are medium-sized birds that range in size from the Little Bronze Cuckoo, at 17 g and 15 cm (6 inches), to the Channel-billed Cuckoo, at 630 g (1.4 lbs) and 63 cm (25 inches). The Common Cuckoo is native to Europe and Asia. It's North American cousins are the Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Black-Billed Cuckoo, and the Greater Roadrunner. All three of these species raise their own young, however, the Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos will occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds. The cuckoos have a cosmopolitan distribution, ranging across all the world's continents except Antarctica. They are absent from the south west of South America, the far north and north west of North America, and the driest areas of the Middle East and North Africa The greater roadrunner, which is a type of cuckoo, can move at a speed of 20 km/h or more on land. Most birds take several minutes to lay an egg, but the cuckoo lays one in just nine seconds. Non-parasitic cuckoos, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs, but many of the parasitic species lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts. Most cuckoos are insectivorous, and in particular are specialised in eating larger insects and caterpillars, including noxious hairy types avoided by other birds. The lizard-cuckoos of the Caribbean have, in the relative absence of birds of prey, specialised in taking lizards. Larger, ground types such as coucals and roadrunners also feed variously on snakes, lizards, small rodents, and other birds, which they bludgeon with their strong bills Common cuckoo birds usually return to Ireland in April and stay till September. The cuckoos are for the most part solitary birds that seldom occur in pairs or groups. The biggest exception to this are the anis of the Americas, which have evolved cooperative breeding and other social behaviours.  The cuckoos are generally a shy and retiring family, more often heard than seen. The exception to this are again the anis, which are often extremely confiding towards humans and other species. The maximum recorded lifespan of a Common Cuckoo in the United Kingdom is 6 years, 11 months and 2 days. The naked, altricial chick hatches after 11–13 days for common cuckoo. At 14 days old, the Common Cuckoo chick is about three times the size of an adult Eurasian Reed Warbler. About 56 of the Old World species and 3 of the New World species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds. Yellow-billed Cuckoos are about a foot in length. Their lower bill is indeed mostly yellow, while their curved upper bill is black. They have a long and slender tail that has white spotted black edges. They have a yellow ring around their eye. Their chin, belly and breast are white while their upperparts are grayish with a brown tint.  The Yellow-billed Cuckoo's diet consists primarily of insects and small fruits.