11 May 2018, 4:02 PM
Heard about this on Science Friday radio program this morning.
Russian cuckoos are taking over Alaska
Thanks to climate change, these crybaby parasites are heading to North America.
By Kat Eschner May 7, 2018
https://www.popsci.com/russian-cuckoo-invading-alaska
" ... University of Illinois ornithologist Mark Hauber .... and his multi-university team of colleagues placed more than 100 3-D printed cuckoo eggs in the nests of birds in Siberia and in Alaska. In Siberia, although the sites were all outside the usual cuckoo nesting range, 14 of the 22 eggs were rejected, suggesting in the words of the study that “Siberian birds had strong anti-parasite responses.” In Alaska, however, only one among the 96 eggs planted was rejected, by a Red-throated pipit. The other test subjects accepted their eggs, not seeming to mind that it differed from their own in color and size. ..."
Russian cuckoos are taking over Alaska
Thanks to climate change, these crybaby parasites are heading to North America.
By Kat Eschner May 7, 2018
https://www.popsci.com/russian-cuckoo-invading-alaska
" ... University of Illinois ornithologist Mark Hauber .... and his multi-university team of colleagues placed more than 100 3-D printed cuckoo eggs in the nests of birds in Siberia and in Alaska. In Siberia, although the sites were all outside the usual cuckoo nesting range, 14 of the 22 eggs were rejected, suggesting in the words of the study that “Siberian birds had strong anti-parasite responses.” In Alaska, however, only one among the 96 eggs planted was rejected, by a Red-throated pipit. The other test subjects accepted their eggs, not seeming to mind that it differed from their own in color and size. ..."