Seow Boon Eu from Penang, Malaysia, photographed a juvenile Banded Bay Cuckoo (Cacomantis sonneratii) being fed by a Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia).
Obviously the iora is the foster parent of the much larger juvenile. The former has been tricked into incubating and brooding the cuckoo chick. Cuckoos are nest parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of a wide range of birds.
“I noticed that this juvenile is still begging for food from its foster parent, unfortunately I couldn’t see the feeding, because it was hidden and very high up in the canopy. Currently I’m still observing its feeding behavior, hope to get more information from the observation,” says Boon Eu.
An earlier post on nest parasitism can be viewed HERE and below under “Related Posts.”
This post comes courtesy of Seow Boon Eu of Bonyou.
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