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Cuckoos mimic hawks!
Cuckoos and sparrow hawks have almost identical patterns on their underbellies
A study has shown that reed warblers - a cuckoo host species - are less likely to attack more "hawk-like" cuckoos. This helps the parasitic birds to lay their eggs undisturbed. The visible similarity between cuckoos and sparrow hawks was already clear, but this is the first study to show the effect the trickery has on host birds. The findings are published in the journal Behavioural Ecology. Playing hawk Cuckoos are brood parasites; after laying an egg in another bird's nest, they leave the unsuspecting host to raise their chick. To fool their victims into caring for their young, cuckoos first need to lay an egg in the right nest, without being "mobbed" or attacked by the nest's owner. "We noticed in another experiment that great tits and blue tits were just as afraid of cuckoos as they were of sparrow hawks," explained Dr Justin Welbergen from the University of Cambridge, UK, who led this research.
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