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Watched a female cuckoo lay her egg yesterday afternoon. It was a long day on the moor, but I got my reward. It took her twenty minutes to find the nest, lay and leave. 

A512C665-5DD7-4509-A3D8-B7EDF96C9042.jpeg

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3 hours ago, cragman said:

Meadow Pipit tabs. I didn’t have to work hard finding it, I watched her laying 

There's maybe 5 or 6 nests on display in the zoological museum in London,different clutches of eggs,but each nest contains a cuckoo egg.

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38 minutes ago, mackem said:

There's maybe 5 or 6 nests on display in the zoological museum in London,different clutches of eggs,but each nest contains a cuckoo egg.

Would love to see that mate. Must be one of the marvels of nature how a cuckoo can lay an egg in another birds nest and the single egg is similar in colour to the eggs of the host birds nest. 

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2 minutes ago, tatsblisters said:

Would love to see that mate. Must be one of the marvels of nature how a cuckoo can lay an egg in another birds nest 

There's a small number of other birds around the world do similar,known as brood parasites.

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Just now, mackem said:

There's a small number of other birds around the world do similar,known as brood parasites.

Often wondered how many species of birds the cuckoo will lay an egg in their nests. I know when we were kids bird nesting when finding a dunnocks nest or a reed warbler always hoped they would be a cuckoo's egg in the nest but we never found one. 

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1 minute ago, tatsblisters said:

Often wondered how many species of birds the cuckoo will lay an egg in their nests. I know when we were kids bird nesting when finding a dunnocks nest or a reed warbler always hoped they would be a cuckoo's egg in the nest but we never found one. 

Hi tabs, they’lll lay in a few. You’ll get Robin/cuckoos,  Dunnock/CC, Reed Warbler/CC  pied wagtail/CC pipit/CC etc and these will specialise in only one species. They may be others that drop an egg anywhere in the above birds nests. I think 50 odd birds have been recorded as being parasitised, but only a few are used regularly, as above. …insect feeders and eaters

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20 minutes ago, tatsblisters said:

Would love to see that mate. Must be one of the marvels of nature how a cuckoo can lay an egg in another birds nest and the single egg is similar in colour to the eggs of the host birds nest. 

And size. The cuckoo is a large bird but it’s egg in comparison is tiny, otherwise the host bird couldn’t brood it

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