The Drongo Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) is a nest parasite, with the female laying her eggs in the nest of the Pin-striped Tit-babbler (Macronus gularis). The former is about twice the size of the latter. Within a few days of hatching, the cuckoo chick would have outgrown the host.

The image below, captured by Chris Lee a.k.a. chrisle023, shows the much larger fledgling of the Drongo Cuckoo being fed by its very much smaller foster parent, the Pin-striped Tit-babbler. It is a sight to behold, seeing the smaller adult feeding the larger fledgling, whose reddish gape is large enough to contain the head of the foster parent. Considering the large size of the chick, the foster parents will have to work flat out to keep the hungry juvenile satisfied.

An earlier post shows a small, unidentified babbler feeding a much larger Drongo Cuckoo fledgling.

Many species of cuckoo practice nest parasitism. Once a cuckoo lays her egg in the nest of a host, the entire burden of hatching, feeding and caring of the young falls on the foster parents. Not only that, the cuckoo chick on hatching will throw out the host’s egg or young in order to get the full attention of the foster parents. In this way the cuckoo can continue laying eggs in the nests of other hosts.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

“Although I try to get opportunities to go out to watch birds, often our home is full of action and drama. Currently a number are nesting or have young in the garden – the Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier analis) have two young, the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum cruentatum) are nesting in the Tamarind tree, the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica longicaudata) have built another nest in the Cinnamon tree and have eggs, Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis strigata) are feeding their young also in the Tamarind tree.

“In the past week I have noted three episodes of angry and frantic calls involving all the chaps above and also the Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis). Each time it is because a male or female Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus malayanus) has turned up in the Tamarind or Cinnamon tree (left top). Everyone would gang up together to shout out their displeasure and some would even try to dislodge the Asian Koels by flying at them, especially the Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) who are very concerned about their nest (left middle, with inset showing its ruffled feathers). It is amazing to see the cooperation, a small Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker (Dicaeum cruentatum) working with the fantails, the Yellow-vented Bulbuls (left bottom, showing the raised crest), etc. A surprise was the involvement of the starlings.

“Like the birds who seem to know that Asian Koels are parasitic, I have no love for them and will assist in showing displeasure. Although Asian Koels are supposed to brood parasite the Jungle Crow (Corvus levaillantii) and House Crow (Corvus splendens), in Southern Thailand and Malaysian Peninsula, Koels are stated to have shifted host from crows to mynas (Payne, RB 2005. The Cuckoos. Oxford University Press). I have seen them check out the nest of many other birds but have yet to see them use them.

“Note: I only really notice Koels in any number in my city in 1991. In the past 20 years they have been extremely common. The House Crow on the other hand has only been noticeable in the city in the past seven years and even now are not large in number in the city.”

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Canning Garden Home, Ipoh City, Perak, Malaysia
18-26th February 2010

Seow Boon Eu from Penang, Malaysia, photographed a juvenile Banded Bay Cuckoo (Cacomantis sonneratii) being fed by a Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia).

Obviously the iora is the foster parent of the much larger juvenile. The former has been tricked into incubating and brooding the cuckoo chick. Cuckoos are nest parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of a wide range of birds.

“I noticed that this juvenile is still begging for food from its foster parent, unfortunately I couldn’t see the feeding, because it was hidden and very high up in the canopy. Currently I’m still observing its feeding behavior, hope to get more information from the observation,” says Boon Eu.

An earlier post on nest parasitism can be viewed HERE and below under “Related Posts.”

This post comes courtesy of Seow Boon Eu of Bonyou.

“On July 28th, 2009, while conducting a bird survey at Pulau Tekong, I heard the insistent, begging calls of a young bird. Moving closer, I spotted a medium-sized, juvenile cuckoo hopping about the branches of trees at the edge of the wooded area. It was obviously a Cacomantis cuckoo of sorts.

“I managed a couple of poor shots as the cuckoo actively moved about. The lighting was rather bad due to the cloudy skies. It was obviously still being tended to but by whom? As I continued observing, the cuckoo moved into the denser part of the vegetation and its calling became more frantic. Through a gap, I was able to observe an adult Ashy Tailorbird Orthotomus ruficeps feeding the juvenile cuckoo.

“I remember seeing Common Ioras Aegithina tiphia feeding a juvenile Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii years ago and know others have also seen this. I know that a few others have also seen Pied Fantail Rhipidura javanica playing host to juvenile Rusty-breasted Cuckoo C. sepulcralis. [I don’t remember anyone observing a host for Plaintive Cuckoo C. merulinus in Singapore.] However, I do not recall anyone observing tailorbirds playing host to a parasitic cuckoo in Singapore. I decided to do some research.

“Wells (1999) mentions that for the Malay Peninsula, Common Iora is the only known host for Banded Bay Cuckoo outside closed forest and Dark-necked Tailorbird Orthotomus atrogularis and Yellow-bellied Prinia Prinia flaviventris are the only confirmed hosts for the Plaintive Cuckoo. He also states that there are no known confirmed hosts for the Rusty-breasted Cuckoo in the Malay Peninsula. [In the mid 1980s, I have observed an unidentified Cacomantis cuckoo being tended to by Golden-bellied Gerygone Gerygone sulphurea, at Pulau Tekong.]

“Robson (2008) lists the following hosts for each Cacomantis cuckoo, in South-East Asia.
1. Banded Bay Cuckoo – White-bellied Erpornis, minivets, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike and Common Iora; 2. Plaintive Cuckoo – tailorbirds, cisticolas, and prinias; 3. Rusty-breasted Cuckoo – Pied Fantail, Long-tailed Shrike, Olive-backed Sunbird, Pied Stonechat, Chestnut-naped Forktail, flycatchers and tailorbirds.

“Based on my poor cuckoo photos, I would lean toward it being a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo but am not entirely certain. I cannot recall reading or hearing about a tailorbird playing host to a parasitic cuckoo in Singapore. If this is true, then this may be the first local record.”

Subaraj Rajathurai
29th July 2009

References:
1. Robson, C., 2008. A field guide to the birds of South-east Asia. New Holland, London. 544 pp.
2. Wells, D.R., 1999. The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsular. Vol. I, Non-passerines. Academic Press, London. 648 pp.

“I was in Vietnam in June 2008 at a mountain resort known as Mai Chau. It was disappointing for me that the birds there were dismally meagre. But I encountered something rather strange while walking round the parameters of the rice fields. There was a pair of what I believe to be Ashy Woodswallows (Artamus fuscus) flying about - see the picture with the grasshopper(?) in its beak. The first time round nothing out of the ordinary happened. But when I passed them a second time round they seemed extremely agitated - screaming very loud and flying rather erratically to and from the telephone wire. Curious I hung around with my compact camera ready.

“Then I noticed some fluttering movement in a bush just below the telephone wire. As I moved in to get a closer look, the pair up on the wire became even more and more agitated. It was then that I saw a nestling struggling amongst the leaves of the bush (left). It was obvious that it was not old enough to even stand up, let alone fly. How did it get there? No nest was obvious.

“We’ve all heard of how parents yell instructions to their young when they observe the latter in danger - Run! Hide! Hit!

“Well, on hindsight I think the parents on the wire were yelling to the nestling: “Stay still! Don’t Move! Play statue!” After some initial struggling, I saw the nestling taking a very strange pose. It seemed to align itself to a central stem to the extent of stretching its neck and beak upwards under a leaf - see the second picture. And there it stayed; and all went quiet with the parents.

“At that time I wasn’t sure what was happening nor what was going to happen. So I did nothing; I just hung around wondering if anything else was going to happen. But nothing did. The nestling held it’s pose without a squeak or a twitch. The parents flew around a little but never far away from the wire. After about 5 minutes or so, I left - dinner was calling me. The next time I strolled pass that spot all was quiet.

“That little incident left some questions for me. How did the nestling get there? The bush was on the edge of an open rice field with no trees anywhere near. Were the parents transporting it when it slipped from their grip and fell? Has such a unique survival strategy amongst birds been documented before?”

Lim Poh Bee
27th January 2009

Note by YC:
I may be wrong, but the fledgling looks suspiciously like that of the Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea). Not sure what birds the koel parasitises in Vietnam. We welcome comments from viewers.