“Yes cuckoos are cheats, but I think we admire them for getting away with it” (Image: Seb Chandler)
What first drew you to cuckoos?
I’m fascinated by the evolutionary arms race between the cuckoo and the birds that it parasitises. It’s a constant ding-dong battle. And there is always more to learn. We have recently discovered that the UK’s cuckoos winter in the Congo rainforest, thanks to satellite tracking by the British Trust for Ornithology. The birds spend the winter with lowland gorillas in the rainforest, then cross the Sahara during a 60-hour, non-stop flight to the UK. It’s…
