Going a bit cuckoo...

[Quixoticgeek]

Went out for a walk on Sunday morning with a friend just down river of Canterbury. It was a beautiful morning, and aside from finding some beautiful trees, my first king Alfred's cakes, and a Beautiful bluebell display, we heard the first cuckoo of the year. Interestingly, the first one I heard was only a few hundred metres from where I heard one around this time last year. As we walked on, we heard another cuckoo call from a clump of trees a hundred meters or so upstream. Then as we walked on, another call from a hundred yards or so to the south. I'm not sure if this is one cuckoo being mobile. or more than one competing. I've also yet to actually spot the bird, I'll have to return with the big lens at some point.

I also saw a bird of prey hovering 20m or so above the ground. It was breezy so it occasionally had to beat it's wings to maintain station. I've seen Hobbies in the area before, and given how small it looked, wondered if it was something small like a Merlin. But my googling suggests that the only small bird of prey that hovers is going to be a Kestrel. Which if that's the case, is the first time I've knowingly seen a kestrel.

But this still leaves me wondering... one cuckoo, two cuckoo, three cuckoo... what is the collective noun for cuckoo, and am I just going a we bit mad now?

ho humm...

J

 

[British Red]

First timer for a kestrel? Don't you drive?

 

[mountainm]

First timer for a kestrel? Don't you drive?

That was my thought too. It's a bit of a joke in my family, me pointing out kestrels as we drive. Although, saying that, round here you're as likely to spot a red kite now. Plenty of buzzards too.

 

[Harvestman]

First timer for a kestrel? Don't you drive?

Kestrels becoming much more scarce where I am. I don't see them anywhere near as often as I used to. I drive a lot.

Some folk hereabouts attribute the decline to the increasing numbers of goshawks, but others I've spoken to scoff at the suggestion. I know goshawks will take other birds of prey, as I know my local barn owl was killed by one.

 

[British Red]

They are still pretty common though. I drove from Lincolnshire to Devon recently and I would be surprised had I counted if I saw less than a couple of dozen

 

[Fraxinus]

On bank holiday Monday Birchwood and I paddled down the river and saw that cuckoo, he was flitting 'twixt areas to holler from. Just past the lake islands I saw a marsh harrier dive down onto the railway line, they also do a bit of hovering but not as fixed place or as long as a Kestrel from my sightings.
There is no collective noun for a plethora of Cuckoo, according to the RSPB and the Oxford dictionary, possibly due to their soloist existence. They mate and split, then the female dumps the egg in another species nest and relies on that to rear it's young. The adults leave a good month before the chicks so no family ties either.... they sound rather like some of Mr Kyles daytime show guests

Rob.

 

[Joonsy]

Sometimes the best way to spot a cuckoo if you can’t find it when it’s calling regularly is to keep still and keep a sharp eye when the bird ''stops'' calling (they only call when perched) as that is when it may take flight to another spot hence give away it’s location. In flight some inexperienced people sometimes confuse them with sparrowhawks

[FONT=&amp]Kestrels are very common and are regularly seen hovering on roadsides, so much so that one features on the coat of arms of the North Warwickshire Council due to them being such a common sight along the areas motorway network. The kestrel is also the emblem of the young ornithologists club, it was chosen when the wonderful wild-life artist James Alder (now deceased) rescued a kestrel that fell into a bucket of oil, he named the bird ''KeK'' and it is that kestrel which the emblem represents. (sorry for the slight tangent). ATB[/FONT].

 

[Fraxinus]

[FONT=&amp]The kestrel is also the emblem of the young ornithologists club, it was chosen when the wonderful wild-life artist James Alder (now deceased) rescued a kestrel that fell into a bucket of oil, he named the bird ''KeK'' and it is that kestrel which the emblem represents. (sorry for the slight tangent). ATB[/FONT].

Nice tangent, I learnt something
We kept as still as the river flow allowed so maybe that is why we got such a good sighting. Talking to Julia last night at the pub meet, her cuckoo was much further upstream, possibly the same one having exhausted options further down stream. It would be interesting to know the size of the individual birds territory in mating season.

Rob.