Richard Collins: Flamingos get the cuckoo treatment

Fostering is not a technique used only by cuckoos. It is widely deployed in captive breeding programmes for endangered species

A Chilean flamingo at Fota Wildlife Park in Co. Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.

THE cuckoos arriving now in Ireland will lay their eggs in the nests of ‘banaltra na cuaice’ (the cuckoo’s nurse), known in English as the meadow pipit. In Britain, the reed warbler is the species of choice.

Hyper-vigilant at this time of year, small birds will mob an approaching cuckoo. Adept at spotting an alien egg, they may desert the nest if they notice anything suspicious.