While most birds will be spending their summer frantically flying round after their hungry broods, the shining cuckoo (pipiwharauroa) can look forward to a long, lazy holiday before heading back off to the winterless West Pacific.

Like many cuckoos, the pipiwharauroa has a pretty charmed life for a bird. It devolves all parenting responsibilities to an obliging surrogate. In New Zealand this is nearly always a grey warbler (riroriro) but it has also been known to target fantails, waxeyes and tomtits. And then it flies off to spend winter in the tropics!

The cuckoo lays its egg in the host’s nest and from that point on has no further involvement in its offspring’s life. Once hatched, the cuckoo chick will eject all other eggs from the nest and the unsuspecting host will raise the impostor as its own. It may sound like nature at its most brutal, but this fascinating scenario is taking place all over the world and would appear to have no negative effects on the host species. Normally, the grey warbler would have already raised one clutch before the cuckoo arrives on the scene, and may well have another stab at parenthood after the impostor has flown the nest.

“Shining cuckoos are not uncommon in the Wellington area” says Sanctuary Marketing Coordinator Alan Dicks.

“But it is unusual to see this incredible behaviour so close up. The Sanctuary is a great place to see them and there certainly seem to be a lot around this year.”

For a bird with such bold behaviour, the shining cuckoo is relatively shy. You are much more likely to hear it, although the bird can be quite close without one knowing as the call starts off quietly as if a long way away. Its song is pretty distinctive – a series of high-pitched, upward-slurring whistles followed by 1 to 2 downward-slurring notes. Once you’ve identified it, you will never forget it! The bird is small but attractively coloured, with iridescent green plumage and a striped chest.

As with all native birds, the surest way to attract them to your garden is to plant New Zealand trees and shrubs. A good list of plants suitable to different Wellington suburbs can be found on the Regional Council’s website. Avoid trying to directly feed birds. And put at least two bells on your cat’s collar if you know that native birds are visiting your neighbourhood.

For more details www.sanctuary.org.nz

ENDS

© Scoop Media