African Emerald Cuckoos Are Beautiful and Intriguing

One thing about cuckoos is that they do not raise their babies if you know anything about them. This may be hard to believe, yet it is very true.

They do not even make their own nests as other birds do.

They pretty much take the nests that are built by puff back shrikes, bee-eaters, olive bush shrikes, and others. In other words, they steal those nests and get rid of the eggs that are in them. If this isn’t hard to believe, I don’t know what is.

Once a cuckoo has found a good nest, the female will lay her own eggs and leave them for another mama bird to raise. Yes, you heard me correctly. Another bird from an entirely different species will get stuck to raise a cuckoo’s babies! How rude can this be?

But it doesn’t end there! After hatching, cuckoo babies push other babies from other species away. This just goes to show you how rude these birds really are. Regardless, these birds still are a beautiful sight to see!