Double Hoodwink!

Hoodwinker: Great spotted cuckoo Hoodwinked: Hooded crow

Walk.. a little after 5 p.m. to after 6.30 ish pm.

temp 20 ish degrees C falling, humidity over 70% and rising, wind less than 5 knots and from west,

Gazelle - 1 adult female in the field 6.15 pm ish .

Double hoodwink!

Hooded crow feeding two quite well feathered Great Spotted Cuckoo fledgelings on the ground over by the east grove, just down from the bipass road. Awesome sighting! As you know if you read earlier entries I've been hoping to see success for those cuckoos and the calls I'd been hearing in the grove indicated that it was happening but this was our first visual confirmation. I was attracted to the scene by the calls which sounded vaguely cuckooish and baby birdish and then noticed the birds on the ground near the edge of the trees, so we focussed binocs on them and watched for a few minutes.

European cuckoos normally only leave one interloper in a nest but they are brood parasites on much smaller birds. This hoodwinked hoodie had two pretenders to rear! I saw it poke the ground repeatedly with its bill, possibly for invertebrates in the soil, while the cuckoos hopped around and called. Several times they approached the crow, the pitch rose, calls came closer together and crow fed the young ones. It was interesting how often we've noticed the adults fly over there.. as if they still take an interest in their chicks ? Husband felt a little sorry for the poor hoodwinked hoodie but I couldn't help noticing the poetic karma in it all.. the crows harass the Buteos flying through simply because they're seen as competitive strangers, and ironically end up rearing strangers themselves! The crows are not exactly an endangered species. Yes they were fooled by the cuckoos but sometimes I think the universe has a sense of humour, thought it seems dark humour at times....

This could well be the second or third or even later crow family that the cuckoos had managed to fool this season but it will probably be the last unless I'm wrong. Several weeks ago we discovered many wing feathers, both black and brown, on the ground below the trees near the eastern end of north valley. From the size and colouring and markings on those feathers I believe these to be evidence that the other adult cuckoo was killed. I failed to record the time of this discovery and the date I last saw the two adults together but for sure I did NOT see two adults together after we found those feathers. I hope I'm wrong but we shall see.

A few minutes before we found the crows and young cuckoos I saw an adult G.S. cuckoo emerge from the cistern where it seemed to have been bathing a little as well as drinking as its plumage seemed damp. It took off west to the woods in the north valley. Shortly after that an entire charming family of seven great tits assembled around the edge of the second smaller pit in the cistern which had been filled in with stones and boulders. They seemed to be picking at insects on the ground there. Then they all took off to one of the pomegranate trees. Three collared doves assembled around the larger water containing cistern for a little while.

Earlier on the creek trail we noticed a common kestrel (I think a female) Falco tinnunculus taking a nice dust bath on the ground.. even rolling on her back in the dust and getting it all over her feathers. I never saw a kestrel take a dust bath before so this was quite a cute sighting. Another kestrel had been noticed earlier hovering over the ridge of the hill to the east-

(not the same hill as we saw the kestrel a week or so ago.. probably a different territory .. that was further north. Also earlier husband had noticed calls by the school of one of my teenage daughters.. up to the west of the valley this time.. a different territory again. The pickings are so good for the kestrels around here that territories can be quite small, and they are not shy to breed right on windowsills of high rise apartments.



It was likely though that the hovering kestrel was the mate of the dust bathing kestrel because those two were not very far apart, though not the same bird )

Turtle doves: Cooing in many locations in woods.

House sparrows: Busy foraging everywhere.. gardens, all around bunker ruins and grassy fields as usual.

Senegal doves: Some coos.. one literally getting into a flap in our Bauhinia lately..

Hooded crows: Small groups on the hills and singles here and there

Jackdaws: none

Jays: Busy foraging througout woods and on gazelle field

Feral pigeons: some overhead

Greenfinches: Plenty singing and calling in the pines, cypress and eucalyptus

Blackbirds: A little song

Chukars: nothing

Collared doves: Foraging, coos and calls in many locations throughout woods

Stone curlews: some calls north of woods north valley

Sunbirds: some calls in the garden

Graceful warblers: foraging in grassy areas near start of valley road as usual, relatively quiet

Syrian woodpeckers: Some calls.. feeding on eucalyptus trunk

Bulbuls: Calls in garden, calls and foraging in the orchard

Great tits: mentioned above re cistern.

One large dark raptor flying over the east edge of the valley to the south but didn't get more detail before it went out of sight. Probably a Buteo.