Wild Days Wildlife Shelter
  • Welcome to Wild Days
  • Who We Are
    • The Wild Days Story
    • Our Team
    • Our Heroes
    • Our Voice
    • Contact Us
  • Animals
    • Have you found Injured or Orphaned Wildlife?
    • Our Animals
    • Stories from Wild Days
    • Gallery
    • Wild Days in the Media
  • Education
    • Wild Days Wildlife Education
    • Useful Links
  • Juniors
    • Our Junior Heroes
    • The Backyard Bugs Club!
    • Junior Hero Awards >
      • Drey Making Award Series
      • Habitat Hero Award Series
      • Parrot Playground Award Series
      • Seed Bell Award Series
      • I've finished an award
  • How to Help
    • Donate to the 2021 Spring Fundraiser
    • Donate Funds
    • Donate Goods
    • Volunteer

Cuckoo, Cuckoo

To watch the transformation of a baby chick through the 'bad hair days' into adulthood is amazing.

This beautiful Channel-billed Cuckoo has shown me its colours and personality, arriving as a helpless chick weighing in just over 200g, it had blown down in a storm then picked up by a dog, looking a bit shaken and messed up. With a call loud enough to be heard down the street, it grew and grew, and changed colours before my eyes.

Now weighing in at over 650g,it is off to stage 
two on a 130 ha property a lot more North than Wild Days where it will increase fitness for the journey to come, off to Papua New Guinea for the winter. As cuckoos are not raised by their parents, they navigate that journey by themselves for the first time, using genetic memory. Amazing. The natural world never ceases to amaze me.

​Farewell and good luck! It was a delight to have had the pleasure.
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  • Welcome to Wild Days
  • Who We Are
    • The Wild Days Story
    • Our Team
    • Our Heroes
    • Our Voice
    • Contact Us
  • Animals
    • Have you found Injured or Orphaned Wildlife?
    • Our Animals
    • Stories from Wild Days
    • Gallery
    • Wild Days in the Media
  • Education
    • Wild Days Wildlife Education
    • Useful Links
  • Juniors
    • Our Junior Heroes
    • The Backyard Bugs Club!
    • Junior Hero Awards >
      • Drey Making Award Series
      • Habitat Hero Award Series
      • Parrot Playground Award Series
      • Seed Bell Award Series
      • I've finished an award
  • How to Help
    • Donate to the 2021 Spring Fundraiser
    • Donate Funds
    • Donate Goods
    • Volunteer