Tuateawa Bird Spot: Shining Cuckoo.

As, with a number of Tuateawans, we spend a fair bit of our lives in another location. A bit like the godwits we have two homes. We owe allegiance to both and they sustain different aspects of our lives.

In our Hamilton suburb we currently have four tui which is a first. In Tuateawa they will, of course be omnipresent! At the moment both places have one more thing in common. The pipiwharauroa or shining cuckoo was heard here on the 5th of Sept. We were thrilled when a friend in Tuateawa rang to say it was there as well. That is really very early as they usually arrive the last week of Sept.

Back in the UK this would have the clergy from North Wallop to Much Haddam in the Marsh uncapping their fountain pens. Each competing to get the first notification in to "THE TIMES OF LONDON" !

Most birds make the 3000km. direct flight to NZ from the Solomon Is. Others come via the coast of Australia and then across the Tasman. A much lesser journey than the godwit, but these birds are coming to breed. Without our riroriro or grey warbler they might not exist. The warbler provides a nest for the cuckoo to lay an egg. It fosters the young cuckoo when it hatches. During this period the cuckoo jettisons unhatched eggs and its foster siblings.

Cuckoo eggs aren't laid until November which lets one nestful of warblers be reared. The warbler is a very small bird and its nest is quite remarkable. It has a small entrance, complete with a porch roof and is domed and suspended. No one has seen just how a female cuckoo manages to insert an egg into such a structure.

Both of these birds can be identified by their song. The grey warbler supposedly sings to announce Spring and also coming rain. It is a rather plaintive and quite enchanting sound. Certainly it does sing a little less in the summer. Perhaps just too busy, or trying to avoid the attention of cuckoos! Warblers are most often seen doing an excellent humming bird impersonation. They hover in the air taking insects from the ends of branches so flimsy that they wouldn't support even their slight weight.

Our cuckoo doesn't go "cuckoo" but it's call is just as distinctive. First there is a short rising call, often repeated many times. Usually, but not always, this is followed by a longer falling call repeated fewer times. If you can imitate this part of the call you are equipped to enter a singing duel with the bird concerned!

Radio New Zealand has a website where the calls of both these birds and many others can be heard. Not on this site is the call that a young cuckoo makes to it's foster parents to ensure that it is fed. It is a single note, almost a tick, repeated constantly, all day. It is the best way of locating a cuckoo as they usually stay in the same spot for quite a while.

Should you hear a riot of cuckoo sounds it means that a cuckoo Parliament is underway. Numbers of birds can congregate together for a few minutes and the purpose is unclear. It is a very noisy meeting though. A bit like question time in the House, with everyone talking and no one listening. This activity is explained in one maori story. The story goes that the cuckoo parents carry out one single parental responsibility. That of telling their offspring just how to make the journey to the Solomons. They must go, on their own, some time after the parents departure in February!