A cuckoo is cuckooing loudly from one of our two walnut trees. He was calling at 6 this morning and flying around and cuckooing since. They are late this year. Usually we hear them from April onwards. I seem to remember a poem from childhood about cuckoos "changing their tune" in June, signifying I think, that the breeding season was over and the parents were soon back off to Africa. Apparently their offspring go later. Of course they abandon their eggs in some other poor bird's nest so there's no parental care or teaching how to be a cuckoo. They just know instinctively how to get back to the warm of Africa when the time comes.
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