In part two of our exploration of the parasites of the bird world we meet the brood parasites: the birds that lay their eggs in other birds' nests. They are the dead-beat parents who can't be bothered raising their own young. But while we might think of these birds as the lowest of cheats, when we dig further we discover that being a freeloader isn't as easy as it seems. They have evolved a range of impressive traits that make them successful birds. So join me today to learn about Cuckoos and their other parasitic kin.

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Notes:

• Brood parasitism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_parasite
• The Family Cuculiformes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo
• Cowbirds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowbird
• Indigobirds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viduidae
• Honeyguides: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeyguide
• Cuckoo Duck: https://ebird.org/species/blhduc1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Village Indigobird: https://ebird.org/species/vilind
• Pacific Koel: https://ebird.org/species/asikoe3?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Greater Honeyguide: https://ebird.org/species/grehon2
• Common Hawk-Cuckoo: https://ebird.org/species/cohcuc1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Drongo-cuckoos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surniculus
• Shining Bronze-cuckoo: https://ebird.org/species/shbcuc1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Fairy-wrens sing to their eggs: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2012.11779#:~:text=Superb%20fairy%2Dwren%20(Malurus%20cyaneus,they%20want%20to%20get%20fed.
• American Goldfinch: https://ebird.org/species/amegfi