Emerald cuckoo

Emerald cuckoo

We are delighted that Sensoli GmbH has taken over the sponsorship of the Emerald Cuckoo
(Chrysococcyx cupreus).

The Emerald Cuckoo is at home in the rainforests, gallery forests, tree and shrub savannahs from Senegal to Ethiopia and south to Angola and South Africa. High up in the canopy, it forages in the dense foliage for its food, which consists of various insects, some fruits, birds' eggs and snails, but above all hairy (!) butterfly caterpillars. The emerald cuckoo thus taps into a diet that is inedible for many other bird species.

Like around a third of the 140 or so species in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae), which includes "our" native cuckoo, the emerald cuckoo leaves the rearing of its offspring to others: As a brood parasite, it lays its eggs individually in the nests of nectar birds, bulbuls, weaverbirds and other small songbirds, which usually raise the foreign offspring with plenty of insect food.

The fact that our specimen is a male can be clearly recognised by the emerald green plumage colouring on the head, back, wings and tail. The females of the emerald cuckoos are much less conspicuous and more brownish in colour.