Though most people think of an old clock when they think of a cuckoo, there are actually more than 120 species of cuckoos in the world. Here's everything you need to know about the cuckoo bird.
Cuckoo facts
The cuckoo bird is one bird in a large family of more than 120 species of birds. Most of the species live in warm, tropical climates and many of them have made the United States their home.
The cuckoo bird is not as brightly colored as many other birds that occupy tropical regions. They usually have grey or brown feathers. Their funny beaks, which are curved, and their long tails are what make them stand out from other birds. Some cuckoo birds use their massive bills to smack smaller animals with when it's hunting. Not every cuckoo bird does this though because not every cuckoo bird hunts small animals. Most of them eat seeds, insects and vegetation.
Nest burglars
A cuckoo bird is sly and lays its eggs in other bird's nests rather than in its own. A female cuckoo bird will diligently look for a nest that contains eggs that are similar to hers in color. Then she will lay her eggs next to the eggs that were laid by another bird. She looks for a nest full of eggs similar in color to her own eggs because she wants to trick the nest owner into thinking that she's sitting on her own eggs. This way the female cuckoo gets out of building a nest and sitting on the eggs.
A female cuckoo bird will lay about four eggs in a several nests, increasing her changes that her offspring will survive without her immediate care. When the chicks hatch, they are usually larger than the birds that were originally in the nest so they push the other babies out and then get all of the food that is brought to them by the original owners of the nest. The cuckoo bird has no role in raising its young.
A famous cuckoo
Did you know that the roadrunner in the Looney Toons cartoons is actually a cuckoo bird? Yes, roadrunners are one of the many species of cuckoos. Road runners live in warmer climates. In the United States, they live in the southwestern part of the country. Road runners are larger than other cuckoos and hang out on the ground where they eat snakes, lizards and small rodents. The road runner in the cartoon is the cuckoo bird family's claim to fame!
