What does a cuckoo eat!! (1 Viewer)

[jeff]

Last week while in Scotland we had a resident cuckoo around the chalet he worked his way around the area everyday, one evening around 8.30ish while watching the cuckoo do his rounds i noticed him catch something, it looked about 8-10 inches long and thinish (maybe a snake), it then proceeded to swing it against a the tree, i guess in an attempt to kill it.

What i'm getting to is, do cuckoo's eat snakes? Is this normal??

 

[helenol]

Jeff, I asked a similar but more general question a while back

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=17738

 

[nirofo]

Hi helenol

Cuckoos eat caterpillars, large hairy ones if they can find them, they are specialists at eating caterpillars that other birds can't eat.

nirofo.

 

[Michael Frankis]

The largest / longest prey mentioned in BWP is earthworms, which can easily be the size you mentioned.

BWP also mentions small frogs & toads as being taken occasionally. Although not recorded as a prey item, I'd guess slow-worm is a possibility too.

Michael

 

[jeff]

The largest / longest prey mentioned in BWP is earthworms, which can easily be the size you mentioned.

BWP also mentions small frogs & toads as being taken occasionally. Although not recorded as a prey item, I'd guess slow-worm is a possibility too.

Michael

Thanks for the replies, def. wasn't a catterpillar, to thick for an earthworm, slow-worms do look a bit snake like, so guess it's a possibility.

Cheers

Jeff

 

[pauco]

Definitely not a snake Jeff. Many kinds of insects, & caterpillars.
bert.

 

[jeff]

Definitely not a snake Jeff. Many kinds of insects, & caterpillars.
bert.

Def. looked snake like, as i said i stick it down as a slow-worm.

 

[pauco]

Slow Worm?

Def. looked snake like, as i said i stick it down as a slow-worm.

Hi Jeff, is this anything like you saw?

30-50cm. colour shiny golden-buff. coastal or island type's can be blue-spotted. favours hedgerows-grassland-heaths -woodlands.
bert.

 

[jeff]

Hi Jeff, is this anything like you saw?

30-50cm. colour shiny golden-buff. coastal or island type's can be blue-spotted. favours hedgerows-grassland-heaths -woodlands.
bert.

As i said at the start, it was about 8-10 inches long, the bird was holding it in it's beak and swinging it against a tree trunk ( i guess in an attempt to kill it), it might not have even eaten it, maybe it was a defense thing? It looked dark in colour from where i was standing 30 metres? away (dark brown/black maybe?), but def. snake like, def. not a caterpillar/insect or earthworm.