Today’s Wild Fact will be about one of the sneakiest bird species I can think of.  You know them from the famous cuckoo clocks but this bird does something cooler then just tell the time. The cuckoo bird has managed to master parenting by not being around. Sounds confusing, eh? But at the same time you are probably thinking it would be nice to spend some alone time without having to worry about little Billy crying and making messes. So how does the cuckoo bird raise it’s young without ever seeing what their chicks look like? Simple, they use a surrogate mother and the worst part is that the surrogate has no idea!

What the cuckoo bird does is called brood parasitism. Basically, the cuckoo bird will lay it’s eggs in another birds nest and let that bird raise their young. You have to think that the other bird (usually warblers) would catch on that it wasn’t their egg. The problem with this is over time the cuckoo bird has evolved to have their eggs look almost identical to their foster mother’s eggs. The really cool part is the fact that once the cuckoo eggs are in the nest they will hatch earlier and develop faster than the real eggs of the bird. What this means is the cuckoo bird will out compete the other birds for food and in some cases will throw the other eggs or babies out of the nest, completely taking over their home. The mother doesn’t catch on after the eggs hatch either since the cuckoo babies have the same feeding call and will open their mouths looking for food just like the real babies.  So in the end, the cuckoo bird just drops their eggs in another birds nest and that unsuspecting bird raises their young while their own offspring will suffer because of these cuckoo birds! The next time someone says you have gone cuckoo, take it as a compliment because I think this is a pretty shrewd move by the little bird.

Cuckoo Bird Fast Fact: The eggs of the cuckoo bird are thicker than normal bird eggs.  This is to offer additional protection when their mother drops them into the nest of another bird.

Before we go, check out the quiz below!  Don’t worry it is easy!

Which egg doesn’t belong?