The diederik cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx caprius''), formerly dideric cuckoo or didric cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners and the

anis Anis ( ar, أنيس) is a masculine given name. The meaning of the name Anis is "genial" or "close friend". People In arts * Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, German rapper known as Bushido * Anis Haffar, educational theorist, teacher, columnist ...

Taxonomy

The diederik cuckoo was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

region of South Africa. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Cuculus caprius'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The diederik cuckoo is now placed in the genus ''

Chrysococcyx ''Chrysococcyx'' is a genus of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. The genus ''Chrysococcyx'' was erected by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the African emerald cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx cupreus'') as the type species. The name ''Chr ...

'' that was erected by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The species is monotypic. The generic name ''Chrysococcyx '' combines the Ancient Greek ''khrusos'' meaning "gold" and ''kokkux'' meaning "cuckoo". The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''caprius'' is from the Latin ''cupreus'' meaning "coppery". The common name "diederik" is from Afrikaans "diedrik", an

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

rendition of the bird's call.

Description

The diederik cuckoo is a smallish cuckoo at 18 to 20 cm. Adult males are glossy green above with copper-sheened areas on the back and whitish underparts. They have a broken white eye-stripe and a short, green

malar stripe The cheeks ( la, buccae) constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. The area between the inside ...

. All remiges have three to four white spots on the inner vanes. The four green outer tail

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

s are tipped white, and the outermost pair are spotted white on both vanes. Females show more copper above, and have coppery barring on the flanks. The underparts are often washed brownish. Juveniles have a red bill, streaky throat and a white wing-bar. They are more copper-coloured above and browner below than the females, and the flank markings are brown blotches.

Behaviour

Breeding

The diederik cuckoo is a brood parasite. It lays a single egg mostly in the nests of weavers, especially the village weaver and the bishops in the genus ''

Euplectes ''Euplectes'' is a genus of passerine bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae. It contains the bishops and widowbirds. They are all native to Africa south of the Sahara. It is believed that all birds in the genus are probably polygynous. The gen ...

''. For example, it has been recorded in

red-collared widowbird The red-collared widowbird (''Euplectes ardens'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. Red-collared widowbirds are found in grasslands and bush clearings in Eastern and Southern Africa. They are known for their long tails and brilliant r ...

Feeding

The diederik cuckoo takes a variety of insects and

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s. It is a noisy species, with the persistent and loud ''deed-deed-deed-deed-er-ick'' call from which it gets its name. Usually four clear, roughly identical, notes followed by a little twitter.

Distribution and habitat

It is a common resident breeder in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and the southern

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

. It has been recorded as far north as Cyprus (1982). It is a short-distance seasonal migrant, moving with the rains. It is a solitary bird, found in open woodland, savanna and riverside bushes.

References

External links

* Diederick cuckoo �
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q519634 diederik cuckoo Brood parasites Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Birds of the Middle East diederik cuckoo Taxa named by Pieter Boddaert