Getting settled in to the new digs very slowly - lots of distractions. There is a large Kowhai tree in the back yard and while helping Mum out with some gardening we noticed it was being stripped by thousands of green black caterpillars. Mum was tempted to spray with insecticide until we noticed a charming little bird visiting one morning to feast on the insects. It was a shining cuckoo! I've photographed them a few times before but only dead ones that have flown into windows.
I love the stripey pyjama pants and the bronzey green shiny coat reminiscent of a hummingbird. A migratory species, the cuckoo comes from the Solomon Islands.
They arrive here every spring, breed and lay one big fat egg into the nest of the tiny grey warbler which has already raised a brood of its own offspring by then. The warbler nest is like a hanging basket with a door too small for a cuckoo to fit through so its still a mystery how it gets its egg into the nest. Somehow it manages to then it just buggers off to leave the warbler to raise the monster child which grows to twice the size of its adopted parents. I wonder then how the cuckoo grows up knowing its a cuckoo and not a warbler, you'd suspect a bit of an identity crisis after all that.
The Kowhai Moth caterpillar is one of the favourite foods of the cuckoo. Its interesting to watch them feed. The cuckoo grabs a caterpillar and whacks it on the nearest branch, it munches on it some then whacks it some more to tenderise it. When the caterpillars guts have turned to mush the cuckoo then sucks it dry and often discards the skin or swallows whats left. Within a week the population of caterpillars has been decimated and I've seen up to three cuckoos feeding at once in our one kowhai tree! Obviously the tree won't be sprayed in the future - we will be protecting this valuable food source for these guys who will be leaving to go back to the Solomons around the end of this month.
Fat and fit on a diet of juicy caterpillars, I hope they leave it a week or two before they go as I just see cyclone Thomas is doing its worst in that region of the pacific. Its a long way for a little bird to fly without having a cyclone to contend with.
I love the stripey pyjama pants and the bronzey green shiny coat reminiscent of a hummingbird. A migratory species, the cuckoo comes from the Solomon Islands.They arrive here every spring, breed and lay one big fat egg into the nest of the tiny grey warbler which has already raised a brood of its own offspring by then. The warbler nest is like a hanging basket with a door too small for a cuckoo to fit through so its still a mystery how it gets its egg into the nest. Somehow it manages to then it just buggers off to leave the warbler to raise the monster child which grows to twice the size of its adopted parents. I wonder then how the cuckoo grows up knowing its a cuckoo and not a warbler, you'd suspect a bit of an identity crisis after all that.
The Kowhai Moth caterpillar is one of the favourite foods of the cuckoo. Its interesting to watch them feed. The cuckoo grabs a caterpillar and whacks it on the nearest branch, it munches on it some then whacks it some more to tenderise it. When the caterpillars guts have turned to mush the cuckoo then sucks it dry and often discards the skin or swallows whats left. Within a week the population of caterpillars has been decimated and I've seen up to three cuckoos feeding at once in our one kowhai tree! Obviously the tree won't be sprayed in the future - we will be protecting this valuable food source for these guys who will be leaving to go back to the Solomons around the end of this month.
Fat and fit on a diet of juicy caterpillars, I hope they leave it a week or two before they go as I just see cyclone Thomas is doing its worst in that region of the pacific. Its a long way for a little bird to fly without having a cyclone to contend with.
4 comments:
Thanks for these pics Mandy. I've only glimpsed one briefly, but have heard them often. Will check out our kowhai for caterpillars.
Thanks Marilyn. They don't seem to make any noise while feeding so they would be easy to miss unless you were looking out for them.
Lovely photos Mandy. I've noticed these guys are kind of keen on windows. I picked up a dead one last year and a live one this season. It was a bit stunned but flew off okay after a couple of minutes. The following morning I saw two together in a kowhai cleaning up the caterpillars. I guess the warblers must have had a good season...
Thank you Steve. They are amazing birds up close, ie. in your hand after they hit a window. And you're right they have no window sense unfortunately. I was surprised how close I can actually get to them. And apparently cats can get very close to them too so its fortunate the warblers have had a good season!
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