In Nepal a good indicator that the monsoon rains are due, is the arrival of the cuckoo bird. It is believed that they make their way on the monsoon winds from Sub-Saharan Africa to Kerala in India then to the coast of Bangladesh and enter Nepal from east Nepal. The name cuckoo is onomatopoeic, which means that it is taken from the male bird’s call cu-ckoo, for example, a curlew and hoopoe. As a result of their shy personality, these birds are more often heard than seen. There are more than 125 different types of cuckoos found throughout the world. The common one found in Nepal is the Pied Cuckoo which lives in forests and wooded areas, where they hide in thick vegetation. Most cuckoos eat insects, especially caterpillars. Cuckoos range in length from about 17 to 91 centimeters. Most of them are drab grey or brown. A few types have some brightly colored or glossy feathers. The cuckoo has a long tail and medium to long legs, with its outer toes pointing backward. Its bill is usually short and curves down a bit and it looks a little bit like a small bird of prey when it flies.
One of the interesting traits of many kinds of cuckoos, including the Pied cuckoo, is that it does not raise its own young. Instead, they lay eggs in the nests of other ‘host’ birds. Each female cuckoo specializes in just one host species, and lays camouflaged eggs in that bird’s nest. For example, a cuckoo which lays its eggs in reed warbler nests will lay eggs that look like those of a reed warbler.
The female cuckoo spends a lot of time watching the birds at the nest where she wants to lay an egg. She has to work out the exact time to go and lay her egg while the ‘host’ parents are not looking. If the cuckoo lays her egg in the nest before the other bird lays, the host will notice and knows it is not her egg, and so she will get rid of it. If the cuckoo lays her egg too late, when the host has finished laying, this will be noticed, too.
When the female cuckoo thinks it is the right moment she will fly down to the host’s nest, she pushes one of her eggs out of the nest, lays her own egg and flies off. This only takes about 10 seconds. The host bird does not notice, and carries on looking after the eggs. When the cuckoo chick hatches it soon grows very fast. It pushes the other eggs or chicks out of the nest. The cuckoo chick has a huge mouth which it opens very wide. It also makes a very fast “cheeping” sound which sounds like a nest full of chicks. This makes the parents behave as if they have a nest full of their own chicks. However, what they have is a nest with two types of birds in it. One more dominant and controlling than the other, so much so that as it grows it will throw out of the nest the other chicks and the host mother bird keeps feeding it believing that it is her chick.
The holy scripture teaches that, spiritually speaking, man has two natures in one body or nest, too. In the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 5 the apostle Paul writes ‘For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.’ If man feeds the fleshly carnal nature, then it will grow and become stronger, while the spiritual nature will starve and diminish. Then in verse 6 he warns man ‘For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace’. By feeding the wrong nature it can have significant ramifications. I wonder reader which nature you are feeding, the fleshly carnal nature or the spiritual nature. Just like the cuckoo, one will dominate the other with serious consequences for the soul.
P. Pilgrim pilgrimway101@yahoo.com
