Cuckoo birds preform brood parasitism which is when they lay their eggs in another bird\u2019s nest which they mark as their host bird. In this case, the great reed warbler is the host, so the cuckoo watches over them and lays her eggs without the warbler noticing. The warbler takes care of the cuckoos bird without even realizing it; sometimes it knows it\u2019s not its own egg, but still chooses to care for it in fear of retaliation. The cuckoo is saving energy by proving no parental care and is essentially relying on the warbler to raise her offspring instead. The warbler raises the cuckoos as its own and they can even adopt their song and be attracted to mates who look similar to the warbler so that the parasite cycle continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cuckoo birds preform brood parasitism which is when they lay their eggs in another bird\u2019s nest which they mark as their host bird. In this case, the great reed warbler is the host, so the cuckoo watches over them and lays her eggs without the warbler noticing. The warbler takes care of the cuckoos bird […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2442,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/uncc-birds.s3.amazonaws.com\/season01\/Brood-Parasitism.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"5:42","filesize":"5.01M","filesize_raw":"5254935","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"tags":[],"series":[4],"class_list":["post-54","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","series-winging-it"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.charlotte.edu\/biology-birds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1037\/2021\/02\/LOGO-2.jpg?fit=1400%2C1400&ssl=1","download_link":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/biology-birds\/podcast-download\/54\/brood-parasitism","player_link":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/biology-birds\/podcast-player\/54\/brood-parasitism","audio_player":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/biology-birds\/podcast-player\/54\/brood-parasitism<\/a>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/sites.charlotte.edu\/biology-birds\/feed\/podcast\/winging-it","embedCode":"Brood Parasitism<\/a><\/blockquote>