Ben Cruachan – natural history

Springtime at our place is invariably heralded by the call of the Pallid Cuckoo, described by Graham Pizzey as a chromatic scale of eight notes, rising in quarter tones. Another name for it is the Brainfever-bird, due to the monotony of its oft repeated call. It’s not spring now, in fact summer really arrived yesterday with 38 C on the thermometer, and 42 forecast for today. That’s been downgraded to 32 however, but I made sure I cleaned out the bird baths and filled them with fresh water, there was a constant procession to them yesterday as the honeyeaters in particular wet their whistles.
This morning C and I were in the carport with our binoculars, enjoying the cool morning air and the birds that were flitting everywhere. While we were looking over into the neighbour’s garden, an untidy looking mottled bird pounced on a large insect, and it was obvious that a Pallid Cuckoo’s foster parents had done their job well. I went inside for the camera, and then walked over to find and photograph the bird sitting on a fence brace. You couldn’t call the juvenile Pallid an attractive bird by any stretch of the imagination, but they grow up to be a fast flying, graceful bird, which can almost be mistaken for a small raptor when seen in flight.
We may look on them unkindly for their parasitic habits, but on the other hand they do a great job eating the caterpillar pests that most other birds find unpalatable.