Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Nocturnal Cuckoo??

Options
  • 21-05-2010 1:29pm
    #1
    LavaLamp
    Registered Users Posts: 284 ✭✭


    This might seem a strange question, but I know very little about birds and their habits. For the last couple of weeks we have had a cuckoo "cuckoo-ing" nearly all night, every night. We also hear it during the day, the thing never seems to sleep!!

    Is this normal or have we got some kind of random nocturnal cuckoo lurking in our garden??
    Tagged:


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    "In April I open my bill
    In May I sing night and day
    In June I change my tune
    In July I fly away."


  • Options
    #3
    LavaLamp
    Registered Users Posts: 284 ✭✭LavaLamp


    Aarav Tinkling Loudmouth wrote: »
    "In April I open my bill
    In May I sing night and day
    In June I change my tune
    In July I fly away."


    oh cool - all is revealed! Thanks for that, poor thing must be bloody shattered by the end of May, I know I will be :p


  • Options
    #4
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    LavaLamp wrote: »
    ...poor thing must be bloody shattered by the end of May...

    The lazy sod has nothing else to do but call and feed. No nest building, no feeding, or protecting, young and an early exit back to Africa. The life of Reilly!


  • Options
    #5
    LostCovey
    Registered Users Posts: 1,717 ✭✭✭LostCovey


    Aarav Tinkling Loudmouth wrote: »
    The lazy sod has nothing else to do but call and feed. No nest building, no feeding, or protecting, young and an early exit back to Africa. The life of Reilly!

    That's a little harsh Aarav Tinkling Loudmouth.

    Apparently the female Cuckoo lays 15-20 eggs. I think it would be easier to build a nest, incubate and feed a couple of broods than find 20 Meadow Pipit nests (especially while up calling all night).

    LostCovey


  • Options
    #6
    wildlifeboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭wildlifeboy


    Hello Srameen, you seem very knowledgable on all things natural. I was wondering what line of work you are in. I host a weekly radio show on nature and i am looking for contributers. if you are interested i would love to drop you a line.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Hang on! :)

    We were refering to the Male, as he is the one that does all the familiar calling.

    I would never cast any slurs at a female! :D


  • Options
    #8
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    wildlifeboy wrote: »
    Hello Srameen, you seem very knowledgable on all things natural. I was wondering what line of work you are in. I host a weekly radio show on nature and i am looking for contributers. if you are interested i would love to drop you a line.

    No Thanks!


  • Options
    #9
    wildlifeboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭wildlifeboy


    i thought id ask anyway.


  • Options
    #10
    E39MSport
    Registered Users Posts: 3,730 ✭✭✭E39MSport


    Nests stolen, migrations started, radio show host career thrown away.
    All in one thread.
    What next? :D


  • Options
    #11
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Heard Cuckoo overnight Fri/Sat in Glendalough


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    mossie
    Registered Users Posts: 2,169 ✭✭✭mossie


    I haven't heard a cuckoo for years here in north Cork. Must have been when I was a teenager and that is not too recent:( I remember when I was 14 or 15 seeing a female cuckoo around the farmyard and it was probably a few years later I last heard one.


  • Options
    #13
    Connacht
    Registered Users Posts: 447 ✭✭Connacht


    I'm hearing plenty of cuckoos here in Mayo this year. Have heard 4 in the last week alone, from lakeshore, to deep conifer forest, to within 50 m of the sea.


  • Options
    #14
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I got 2 reports of Cuckoo calls this week and one turned out to be a Wood Pigeon and the other a Collared Dove. Let's just say I was disappointed!


  • Options
    #15
    Connacht
    Registered Users Posts: 447 ✭✭Connacht


    To help differentiate, listen here :
    Cuckoo : http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/cuckoo/index.aspx
    He says "cuck-oo", 2 notes.
    Woodpigeon :
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/w/woodpigeon/index.aspx
    He says "I'm - aaa - wood - pige -on", 5 notes. But watch out, he rarely starts at the beginning of the 5 notes, so you need to wait for the beginning of the sequence.
    Collared Dove :
    http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/collareddove/index.aspx
    He says "I'm - aaa - dove", 3 notes.


  • Options
    #16
    Tea drinker
    Registered Users Posts: 2,818 ✭✭✭Tea drinker


    Aarav Tinkling Loudmouth wrote: »
    The lazy sod has nothing else to do but call and feed. No nest building, no feeding, or protecting, young and an early exit back to Africa. The life of Reilly!

    Well they are calling here in Morocco for the past few weeks, so evidentally some don't even bother to leave!


  • Options
    #17
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Accepted. Just as some Swallows go no further than northern Africa and the southern Med. British and Irish Cuckoos winter south of Cameroon.

    The Cuckoo we were discussing happens to be here and will definately return to Africa.:)


  • Options
    #18
    Durnish
    Registered Users Posts: 692 ✭✭✭Durnish


    Saw and heard a couple of cuckoos out on the Dawros peninsula in Donegal. We may even have seen a young cuckoo with its feeder bird. The sluggish cuckoo sat on a tall wire while a small bird fluttered around it.


  • Options
    #19
    Connacht
    Registered Users Posts: 447 ✭✭Connacht


    I saw two cuckoos this weekend, and continue to hear lots this year.


Advertisement