Baby Cuckoo

[sherrardk]

I think we have a baby cuckoo. It is being fed by a pair of blackbirds but it is flipping huge compared to them. It is easily as big as 'dad' and twice as fat. Do they pretend to be hurt to get extra attention - last week it seemed to have a poorly wing when standing around (but could fly fine) and this week it seems to have a problem with its leg? To be honest, it doesn't look quite 'right' somehow.

[FredPuli43]

If so, you've got a rarity. It's very unusual for a cuckoo to be parasitic on a blackbird's nest. Fledgling blackbirds can look pretty big though.

[boxtops]

does it look like these? http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=baby+cuckoo&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-PqLUZW8GuG50QWtyYHwCA&sqi=2&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1010&bih=669

[FredPuli43]

YouTube " A Blackbird's fledgling" shows a fledgling waving one wing pathetically, to get fed by its dad. (Sorry I can't get it load on here at present !)

[sherrardk]

To be honest, I'm not sure what it is but it is bigger than its 'parents'. It is a big baby bird, extremely ugly (but so was the duckling). We have a nest in the garden with eggs that haven't yet hatched (discovered it by accident at the weekend) so I thought the baby bird that has been out for the last two weeks can't be very old (but it's size surprises me). I haven't seen it in a nest, it kind of crashes around the garden (bit like it's drunk).