Magpie parents know a baby cuckoo when they see one

Cuckoo fledglings are fed less frequently by magpie parents when raised together with magpie nestlings

December 2013: Cuckoo fledglings left in magpie nests are fed much less frequently by their foster parents when raised in mixed broods with the magpie’s own nestlings, according to research led by Manuel Soler of the Universidad de Granada in Spain. The findings are published in Springer’s journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Cuckoos often lay their eggs in the nests of magpies so that their chicks can be raised by the latter.

Very little is known about the relationships between foster parents and fledglings of brood parasites, whose offspring are incubated and raised by members of other species. 

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