birding-aus

The Early Bird ...

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: The Early Bird ...
From: L&L Knight <>
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:52:25 +1000
I'm not sure which species of cuckoo the author is referring to here ...

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article353676.ece

Earlier birds threaten the cuckoo
By Jonathan Owen
Published: 26 March 2006

Cuckoos have inhabited rural Britain for thousands of years, but climate change is taking its toll on the bird that once dominated other flying species by stealing their nests.
New figures to be released later this year by the RSPB and British 
Trust for Ornithology are expected to show a continuation of a marked 
decline that saw its numbers crash by 43 per cent from 1994 to 2004.
Global warming is said to have shattered the delicate timing that the 
cuckoo needs to pull off its trick of hiding its eggs in the nests of 
other birds. Milder winters and earlier springs are changing nesting 
patterns. This means that many birds have already begun breeding by the 
time cuckoos arrive to try to find empty spaces for their eggs.
Tim Sparks of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology told The Independent 
on Sunday: "Global warming is definitely a major factor. It is quite 
clear that the change in arrival dates is linked to warmer weather and 
earlier springs."
Meadow pipits and dunnocks foster 80 per cent of cuckoo chicks, but 
they are now breeding up to two weeks earlier than in the past, while 
cuckoos are starting to arrive up to two weeks later than usual. The 
cuckoo is also suffering from the decline in the number of these two 
species; their numbers have dropped by more than a third in recent 
years.
Cuckoos cannot simply switch their allegiance to other birds, as their 
eggs are genetically programmed to mimic those of the species that they 
normally target. Thinly distributed around the UK, there are now 
thought to be just 15,000 pairs left. Recording the first call of the 
cuckoo each year is an age-old British institution that has become an 
annual fixture in newspaper letters pages.
The cuckoo's distinctive call, made by males as a way of defending 
their territory and attracting females, is becoming more infrequent, 
and recorded sightings in 2005 were down by a third on those of the 
previous year. The overall outlook is bleak, according to Dr Martin 
Fowlie from the British Trust for Ornithology. "Cuckoos are facing a 
real crisis and the question is whether we will still hear them in 10 
to 20 years' time," he said.
The next edition of the Population Status of Birds in the UK, due in 
2007, is expected to show the cuckoo added to the list of Britain's 
threatened birds.
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