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Article: Cuckoos caught out as global warming confounds nature
- Article from:
- The Irish Times
- Article date:
- June 25, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Irish Times. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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SWALLOWS ARE arriving in Ireland earlier each year but cuckoos
are so confused by climate change that they are now turning up in
northern Europe too late to drop their eggs in other birds' nests.
According to Konstantin Kreiser, of BirdLife International, this
is happening because the "short-hop" migratory birds that cuckoos
normally use as surrogate parents are flying north earlier from the
Mediterranean basin.
By the time cuckoos arrive from southern Africa in April, many of
these birds already have hatchlings and "they've missed the boat",
he said. "It's a very good example of how climate change can bring
confusion in the ecological system."
At a press briefing in Brussels yesterday ...