Gerald McCormack, CINHT
The Long-tailed Cuckoo (Karavia, Urodynamis taitensis) winters in tropical Polynesia and migrates to New Zealand in October and November to breed by duping other birds to incubate its eggs and raise its young. This post explores its behaviour in the Cook Islands and New Zealand and the discovery that it is a migrant.
Tropical behaviour
Long-tailed Cuckoo, adult on branch and in flight – Cook Islands, Ātiu – Gerald McCormack 2010-04
The Long-tailed Cuckoo is dark brown with pale brown spots topside and white with brown streaks below; its conspicuously long tail is dark brown with pale brown bars.
In the tropics the cuckoo is solitary, secretive and inconspicuous except for the occasional loud screeching “wrrrrisssSST” call from high in trees. They are sometimes seen in fast direct flight between trees or slinking along tree branches in search of insects and lizards.
On Ātiu, twice in March and once in November, I have seen gregarious behaviour of small groups with much chasing associated with a rattling “chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi” call. The significance of this behaviour is unknown.
Nesting birds in the Cook Islands, such as the Rarotonga Flycatcher (Kākerōri, Pomarea dimidiata) and the Rimatara Lorikeet (Kura, Vini kuhlii) react very strongly to the presence of a cuckoo and chase it away. In New Zealand the cuckoo is a well-known predator on the eggs and nestlings of other birds and presumably they do the same here when the chance arises. Continue reading →
