Clamator glandarius
The Great Spotted Cuckoo is another summer visitor to South Africa, with birds arriving here from the Mediterranean and equatorial Africa in September and staying until April or May. While here they have a rather patchy distribution, with concentrations in the Lowveld and northern Gauteng.
Great Spotted Cuckoos live in grasslands, savannas and open woodlands. They feed mainly on a wide range of invertebrates, especially caterpillars.
Like others of their kind, Great Spotted Cuckoos are brood parasites, with this species targeting crows and starlings for the raising of their chicks. Females lay between 1 and 4 eggs, usually 2, in the host nest, and as many as 23 eggs in a season. The chicks don’t usually kill their adoptive siblings but will peck at them. The chicks leave the nest between 3 and 4 weeks after hatching. They grow to 39cm in length and weigh about 130g.
DeWetsWild 