Cuckoo 'parent' and chick (Ireland)

[Bobbie Ireland]

This is so amazing! The photo was taken in the garden of an Irish B&B. It shows the foster-parent - a Robin - feeding its Cuckoo chick. That great big gape must be irresistible. Robins are unusual foster-parents, apparently, which is why this image is doubly fascinating.

[Donna]

Oh my word!! That's one big baby to foster! Amazing, thanks!

[Bobbie Ireland]

Oh my word!! That's one big baby to foster! Amazing, thanks!

Ain't it just! Do "we" have cuckoos in the NE United States? I know nothing about them. OH! Must find that BTO link re their tracked cuckoos... fascinating.

[Donna]

Oh my word!! That's one big baby to foster! Amazing, thanks!

Ain't it just! Do "we" have cuckoos in the NE United States? I know nothing about them. OH! Must find that BTO link re their tracked cuckoos... fascinating.

I'm sure there are somewhere Bobbie but I'm a little "Cuckoo" in that dept! 

[BIGFRANK]

That cuckoo looks very different then the ones we get in North America. The Robin isnt the American Robin like we have in North America either it is very small almost sparrow sized.
  Ive seen a warbler feeding a cowbird chick, it looked like it could be swallowed! Aint nature grand.

[MAK]

I'd say that Robin is a little "Cuckoo"! 

[Shaky]

This is so amazing! The photo was taken in the garden of an Irish B&B. It shows the foster-parent - a Robin - feeding its Cuckoo chick. That great big gape must be irresistible. Robins are unusual foster-parents, apparently, which is why this image is doubly fascinating.

Reminds me of Baby Huey

[Bobbie Ireland]

Baby Heuy, Shaky! The very thing!!! (Poor parent, tho...)

[Dot_Forrester]

Yes, we have 2 species of cuckoos that are seen over most of the U.S. except for the west coast and deep south. They are the  Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the Black-billed Cuckoo.  They are long slender medium-sized birds that seem to creep around mostly unseen through dense shrubbery hunting for caterpillars. It's hard to tell from the fluffed-up juvenile in Bobbie's photo, but our cuckoos don't look like that one. Then again, the robin doesn't look much like our robins either. The best look I ever got of this bird was the yellow-billed cuckoo who flew into our picture window years ago while being chased by a robin. I suspect you'd have to see the 2 species up close to differentiate one from the other. My bird books aren't handy at the moment but I'm almost sure that the famous Roadrunner of the U.S. Southwest is closely related to the cuckoos.

Dot in PA

[Bobbie Ireland]

Thanks for the US Cuckoo info, Dot. "Our" cuckoo is (should you care to check) Cuculus canorus. Yellow-billed Cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus) have been recorded in Ireland but as you might guess, they are rare... no idea of stats re their occurrence. And FYI - the American "Robin" is not a robin at all, but a member of the Thrush family... tho I am sure you know that. I have read that when early settlers saw the American Robin, the red breast reminded them of the European Robin, and thus gave it its name. Who knows if this is true, but it might as well be.

(And do not even THINK that I knew those Latin names... of course I looked them up! OK - back to Wimbledon...)

Must check that Roadrunner link... Beep-beep!! Had not heard that before...

[Patti from Kentucky]

(And do not even THINK that I knew those Latin names... of course I looked them up! OK - back to Wimbledon...)

Must check that Roadrunner link... Beep-beep!! Had not heard that before...

Except you forgot the best Latin name ever: Turdus Migratorius (American Robin).  And yes Dot, the Greater Roadrunner is in the same family as our cuckoos.