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Yep, very common sound to hear in European forests and a sign that spring is here.
What's also interesting about them is that they don't build nests. They just lay their eggs in other birds' nests and let them take care of their young. The baby cuckoo will throw the other baby birds out of the nest so it'll get all the food.
In north america Cowbirds do the same thing basically!
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/overview
In South America too, although they're shiny cowbirds instead. Their parasitic behaviour is so famous that, at least in my Portuguese dialect, their local name "chupim" is often used to refer to people who take advantage of the others' goodwill.
In the USA the name cuckoo is also used to refer to people who like to do... a thing.
Unlike "cuckold", "chupim" isn't really sexual. It's mostly that sort of person who wants everything, but never gives back.
For example. You and your brother got each their own toys. If you play with his toys, he throws a tantrum: "THEY'RE MINE!". If you don't let him play with your toys, he also throws a tantrum: "WAAAAH YOU'RE SELFISH!". That's a chupim.
How do you know my brother?
I live near a large nature reserve (wetland) in the Netherlands, and we have hundreds of bird species there, including cuckoos. In spring and summer we tend to see lots of people with really big binoculars trying to spot all kinds of birds. It always makes me laugh seeing these people raise the binoculars whenever a cuckoo calls, because when you hear them they could be miles away with how the sound carries in the open space.
I'm so fucking glad those birds don't exist in South America. Because this is one of the sounds I hate the most.
When I was a child, my home had a cuckoo clock. Already centennial back then. Noisy and loud. And it made that "cuckoo!" noise once 1AM or 1PM, twice 2AM or 2PM... can you picture the bloody hell that shite was at midnight???
...okay, the birds have no fault for that. But I'm still glad they don't exist here.
I live in the Black Forest. The older cuckoo clocks don't just sound awful, but they look like a demon has infested it.
The one from my childhood is almost identical to this one, plus the three weights from the video pelespirit linked. Even the "IIII" instead of "IV" for the four*. I have no idea on its geographical origin, but it still exists — I saw it last week, ~~now it haunts my brother-in-law and nephew~~ my sister inherited it.
*something I'd only understand years later - "IV" is for Jupiter (IVPITER). Just a bit of respect for the old gods that survived.
My grandparents had one of those in the 1980s!
Shudder.
Makes sense but it's something I never really thought about before!
Equally important, my dog —who loves birds— is very intrigued by that video.
Ha, me too, thanks! I had a cuckoo clock in the 90s, just never thought to look up what the actual birds sound like 😂