Monday word: Pipiwharauroa

[med_cat]

Today's word is brought to you by prettygoodword :)
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pipiwharauroa (PEE-pee-fay-ray-oo-roh-ah) - n., a migratory cuckoo of Australasia and Melanesia with metallic green-gold plumage.


This is specifically the New Zealand name (from the Maori name) for what elsewhere in its range (Australia, New Guinea, and islands around these) is known as the shining cuckoo or the bronze shining-cuckoo. It's the smallest of the cuckoos, and like most of them, it doesn't nest but rather lays its eggs in the nest of a slightly smaller bird for another mother to raise. Rather pretty birb, too:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

So to expand on that description a little, the reason a slightly smaller bird is chosen is so that the baby cuckoo is big enough it can push the other babies out of the nest and claim all the parenting (including food) for itself.

---L.

[med_cat]

I see... :/