Having just visited Perth zoo I saw (for the first time in this collection) a rather impressive pair of Channel-billed cuckoos and started to wonder whether there was actually any point in keeping brood parasitic species like this without maintaining the host species in the same enclosure...that is of course if there was any serious intention to breed them. I would be interested in any opinions Zoochat members might have.
since cuckoo adults or their chicks often kill the original nestlings or destroy the original eggs, it results in a dilemma. If you breed the cuckoo you essentially have to choose not to breed the host species. I can understand why zoos wouldn't want that, especially when dealing with a widespread cuckoo species that in no way is threatened. If it had been a threatened cuckoo species or a parasitic species where the host chicks also are likely to survive, the answer to this dilemma is easier.
I imagine that in the case of the host species for a bird like the Channel-billed cuckoo (usually fairly common species like Australian crows or Australian magpies) it would be fairly simple to decide on going ahead with it, for the challenge if nothing else.
The WWT has done quite well with black-headed ducks, I think, but that's quite easy if they pull the eggs as these ducks just lay in other ducks' nests without damaging their hosts' eggs. I think there have been occasional aviary breedings of whydahs and widow birds, if they are kept with breeding groups of suitable species of waxbills, mannikins etc. Alan
Like being written here above it is indeed making a choise. Do you breed with the host species or with the parasitic one. Breeding with whydahs and widowbirds has been proven to be challenging, but possible when aviculturists decide to specialist themselves on the parastic species. There has been quite descent results with Vidua macroura with most other species the results have been more sporadic (also because the breeding results with the host species are more limited). Does anyone know if their has been any breeding results with Common cuckoos?
Strictly speaking you wouldn't even have to remove the eggs. They don't do any harm to the host eggs/chicks and are independent from the moment they hatch. Don't require feeding or anything. There have been records of ducklings staying around for a short period for comfort from the host mother, but that's it. I guess no. Most common British bird that have been bred in captivity anywhere have also been bred in Britain. In many cases they were also the first because of the relatively early spread of aviculture in Britain, even compared to most other European countries. It is not among the species registered as bred in captivity in UK on the list made by The Avicultural Society (full list: The Avicultural Society --> First Breeding Register Now Available). There is still a chance it has happened elsewhere of course. The great spotted cuckoo was bred in Germany in the 1960´s with common magpie as host and it is in the same subfamily as the common cuckoo.
