Animalia Life

Clamator glandarius
SUBFAMILY
Cuculinae
TAXONOMY
Cuculus glandarius Linnaeus, 1758, northern Africa and Gibraltar. A smaller race, choragium, described from South Africa.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Coucou geai; German: Hдherkuckuck; Spanish: Crнalo Europeo.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
13.8–15.4 in (35–39 cm); 0.25 lb (124 g). Thirteen cervical vertebrae and a feather crest. Dusky brown, flight feathers graybrown, tail tipped white, crown gray and face black, eye ring gray to red, bill black. Juveniles have crown and face black, and flight feathers rufous.
DISTRIBUTION
Iberian Peninsula, South France, Turkey and Cyprus, Iran and Iraq, Middle East to Egypt. Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia. North Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, and South Africa. All populations winter in Africa.
HABITAT
Semi-arid open woodland, scrubs, and cultivation; in Europe open areas; oak and pine forests, also olive and almond groves. Below 6,600 ft (2,000 m).
BEHAVIOR
Harsh guttural voice: “gah, gah, gah...gak, gak, gak... ko, ko, ko,” falling in pitch and increasing in tempo. Easy to see in pairs at the beginning of the breeding season; male feeds caterpillars to the female. Evidence for absence of territorial
BEHAVIOR
during breeding season in southern Spain. Adults breeding in the Iberian Peninsula winter in southern Africa. Birds in West Africa are local migrants, although there are some residents.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Insects, mainly caterpillars, also termites, grasshoppers, and moths. Feeds on trees, sometimes on the ground.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Mainly monogamous, although polygamous mating arrangements occur. Brood parasitic; the magpie is its main host in the Mediterranean, also crows are used, and starlings in Africa. There is no ejection of host eggs by nestlings. They lay a large number of eggs (maybe up to 25, 12 for sure), distributed over many nests of hosts. Over extensive regions there is only one egg type. Incubation 12–15 days, shorter than hosts. There may be more than one chick per magpie nest successfully fledging. It fledges as soon as 16 days, fed by foster parents for one to two more months. Young form social groups attended by magpies.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not globally threatened. Generally uncommon throughout most of its range, expanding in South Europe and Middle East.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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