PLEASE! If you see any mistakes, I'm 100% sure that I have wrongly identified some birds.
So please let me know on my guestbook at the bottom of the page
Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius



The Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. The genus name clamator is Latin for "shouter" from clamare, "to shout". The specific glandarius is derived from Latin glans, glandis, "acorn".

It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of Corvids, in particular the Eurasian magpie.

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius
Range map
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius
Range of C. glandarius - Click picture for full size
By SanoAK: Alexander Kürthy - Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com.
Range map from BirdLife International 2016. Clamator glandarius. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016:
Downloaded on 26 January 2019 as visual indicator of distribution.,
CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76118392

Chicks

Unlike the common cuckoo, neither the hen nor the hatched chick of this species evict the host's eggs, but the young magpies often die because they cannot compete successfully with the cuckoo for food. However it has been shown that this species' chicks secrete a repellent scent when predators threaten. The repellent protects great spotted cuckoo chicks themselves as well as the host's chicks from predators.

Carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) chicks survive better if a great spotted cuckoo chick shares their nest. Birds of prey and feral cats less frequently prey on crow's nests that include a great spotted cuckoo chick.

Crow chicks benefit only when predators are very active; when there is less predation, losing food to great spotted cuckoo chicks harms the crow chicks without compensation.

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
By Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38474412

Adults
This species is slightly larger than the common cuckoo at 35–39 cm in length, but looks much larger with its broad wings and long narrow tail. The adult is grey above with a slender body, long tail and strong legs.

It has a grey cap, grey wings, a yellowish face and upper breast, and white underparts. Sexes are similar. The juveniles have blackish upperparts and cap, and chestnut primary wing feathers. This species has a magpie-like flight.

It is a bird of warm open country with trees. It feeds on insects, spiders, small reptiles and hairy caterpillars, which are distasteful to many birds.

The great spotted cuckoo's call is a loud cher-cher-kri-kri and variations.

Length: 39 cm
Wingspan: 58 to 66 cm
Weight: 140 to 170 g
Longevity:
Female / Male / Juvenile

Adult:

• Pale silvery-grey crown and crest
• Upperparts are grey with an abundance of white spots
• Chin and throat are yellowy-white
• Belly creamy-white

Juvenile:

• Black on upperparts where adult is grey
• Rufous on primaries

From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.

Listen to the Great Spotted Cuckoo

www.xeno-canto.org


Conservation status
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 15 March 2021
Location: eBird hotspot: Agia Varvara, Cyprus


Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius
Great Spotted Cuckoo - 15 March 2021
eBird hotspot: Agia Varvara, Cyprus



PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       

You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011