Johnny Wee‘s documented an adult Pied Fantail (Rhipidura javanica) feeding a much larger juvenile Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis) at Singapore’s Lorong Halus Wetland on 24th August 2012.
The Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, a brood parasite, is an uncommon resident. It parasitised the nests of a wide range of species LINK, most of which are small birds.
Encountering an adult foster parent feeding a much large chick can be a comical sight. But to the foster parents this this is no joke The adults need to work much harder to obtain food for a much larger hungry cuckoo chick or juvenile than to feed their own brood.
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I’ve always wondered why the parents continue to feed the parasite chick… don’t they realise it’s different?
Apparently they don’t…
That can’t be very intelligent can it?