Discounted video footage
The Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, birdsong, video footage, audio was shot in spring in the Orobic Alps (Italy), at the beginning of the reproductive period, when the characteristic song is heard. In this way the cuckoo shows its presence to the females and to the other males, delimiting its territory.
This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of dunnocks, meadow pipits, and reed warblers. Although its eggs are larger than those of its hosts, the eggs in each type of host nest resemble the host’s eggs. The adult too is a mimic, in its case of the sparrowhawk; since that species is a predator, the mimicry gives the female time to lay her eggs without being seen to do so.
Finally, in England, William Shakespeare alludes to the common cuckoo’s association with spring, and with cuckoldry.
