BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-08)

Cuckoos are

notorious for

duping other

species into

raising their

ospring,

but this may

provide some

foster families

with surprising

benets, too.

I

t’s a sunny spring day in the

Sobarriba, a plateau 950m above sea

level in northern Spain, and a warm

breeze is carrying a faint smell of wild

thyme and lavender, which grow in

the hedgerows and meadows of this

low-intensity agricultural landscape.

For nearly 10 minutes, we have been

observing a great spotted cuckoo female

perching on a branch of a tall poplar tree,

just a couple of meters away from a carrion

crow nest that we need to check for new

eggs. The crow female is sitting on the

nest, in an incubating posture, ignoring the

cuckoo, though she must have seen it.

We have never witnessed an active defence

by breeding crows against great spotted

cuckoos – literature has never described it

either – but we are nevertheless surprised

by the absolute lack of reaction to such a

conspicuous threat.

The

SPOTTED

By Daniela Canestrari