I have been hearing quite a few Cuckoos now that the smaller birds are nest building and laying eggs. I found the ones below in the southern part of the Green’s Bush via their calling. They have arrived from the northern warmer climates and are now ready to breed and lay eggs. The fan-tailed cuckoo will lay a single egg in the smaller bush bird’s nests after removing a host’s egg. It targets Thornbills, Scrubwrens and Fairy-wrens. The Shining Bronze-cuckoo also lays its eggs in the domed nests of Thornbills as well as the open nests of honeyeaters and robins
Fan-tail Cuckoo, Green’s Bush (southern section), Vict
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Shining Bronze-cuckoo
Shining Bronze-cuckoo – named well
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The Gap Year and Beyond 
The shining bronze cuckoo is a beauty, in looks if not behaviour. The photo of it from the rear — showing the pattern of black and white stripes — reminded me of those old Hollywood movies where convicts wore similarly patterned prison garb. 🙂 We only have one species in Alberta, the black-billed cuckoo. It’s uncommon and I can’t remember ever seeing it. My favourite cuckoos, hands down, are roadrunners. Beep beep!
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thanks for the comments Sally, we have quite a few cuckoos here and with climate change (if one believes) more northern species are making their way south as it warms up…I had no idea that road runners are cuckoos…
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And zygodactylous, to boot. 🙂 They are fun to watch. They spend much of their time on the ground, chasing down food but can fly reasonably well.
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Beautiful photos!
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Thanks Pete, they were a nice little bonus find.
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