What’s happening to our migrants?
By Charlie • April 1, 2009 • 3 commentsClimate change, Cypriots with lime-sticks, urban sprawl, drought in Africa…it’s no wonder that Europe’s migratory bird populations are going through changes. One of the most peculiar though is this footage of a Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, and when I say ‘common’ they’re becoming less and less common every year. In years gone by the call of the cuckoo was as much a sign of spring as torrential rain on Bank Holidays, but lately the woods are no longer echoing with the call which prompted William Wordsworth to write in “To the Cuckoo”:
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;
However perhaps I’ve just been listening out for the wrong call in the spring, because if this BirdLife International video is anything to go by then something strange is happening to our migrants:
Video used by permission of BirdLife International
Have you seen the cool 10,000 Birds t-shirts? Get yours today!
By coincidence, I visited the Finish village mentioned in the BirdLife article on my travels through Scandinavia back in the early 1990ies. I nearly drove through it without noticing (Finish rural is very, very rural), but luckily I saw the city limits sign in my rear view mirror and managed to turn around.
The mirror was a very enlightening way of reading the village’s name, I must say.
I an only imagine Jochen, I can only imagine
Speaking of cuckoos, I just saw a Great Spotted Cuckoo last weekend, looking for a magpie nest to parasitize. What a beautiful bird.
Would love to see a Common Cuckoo.