Meet Diederik Cuckoo, One Of The Most Beautiful Bird In The World

This article is about Diederik cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius). I wrote it for two reasons: to talk a bit about beauty of this amazing bird and to illustrate something about these birds biology. They are more than just pretty colours. Diederik cuckoo are inter-African migrants that are coming back to SA around now (October), and their breeding season is about to get started. So it is a good time to learn something about them.

Diederik cuckoo gets its name from and onomatopoeic rendition of its persistent and loud deed-deed-deed-deed-er-ick,in a sweet, but loud voice, call of the territorial male, which you hear often in Johannesburg during the summer. There is a pair that regularly visit our garden and the male is often heard calling in early morning from a large tree in the front yard. The specific name caprius is thought to be a misprint for either cuprea (coppery) or capensis (of Cape of Good Hope), but I like to think it is cuprea, because the birds – especially females and juveniles – often show coppery colours.