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 are brood parasites, that is, the female lays its eggs in the nest of a host species, and then leaves the host(s) to raise the chick to fledging. Hosts are mainly weavers and bishops including widowbirds, but they can also parasitise the nests of a number of small birds. In South Africa, 24 host species are known, with the most common being Cape Sparrow, Southern Masked Weaver, Cape Weaver, Village Weaver, Red Bishop, and Cape Wagtail.