Pacific long-tailed cuckoo

This article is about New Zealand species. For the African long-tailed cuckoos, see Cercococcyx.
Long-tailed cuckoo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Genus: Urodynamis
Species: U. taitensis
Binomial name
Urodynamis taitensis
(Sparrman, 1787)

The Pacific long-tailed cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis), also known as the long-tailed cuckoo, long-tailed koel, or the koekoeā in Māori, is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. The species breeds in New Zealand, and migrates to the islands of the south-western Pacific in the winter.

The long-tailed cuckoo is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of yellowheads, whiteheads and brown creepers. The eggs hatch before those of the host and the young chicks eject the eggs of the host. Long-tailed cuckoo chicks are able to mimic the calls of their host's chicks.

References

  1. "Urodynamis taitensis". International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Retrieved 2014-12-31.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Urodynamis taitensis.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.