Johnny Wee‘s documented an adult Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) feeding a much larger juvenile Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis) at Singapore’s Lorong Halus Wetland on 24th August 2012.
The Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, a brood parasite, is an uncommon resident. It parasitised the nests of a wide range of species LINK, most of which are small birds.
Encountering an adult foster parent feeding a much large chick can be a comical sight. But to the foster parents this this is no joke The adults need to work much harder to obtain food for a much larger hungry cuckoo chick or juvenile than to feed their own brood.
Johnny Wee
Singapore
August 2012
Am
I’ve always wondered why the parents continue to feed the parasite chick… don’t they realise it’s different?
BESG
Apparently they don’t…
Am
That can’t be very intelligent can it?
Bird Ecology Study Group Ashy Tailorbird feeding a large Plaintive Cuckoo fledgling
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