The Jacobin Cuckoo is a fairly common breeding summer visitor which arrives in our area to breed in June. It leaves in October. Our race is C.j. serratus and it is thought to arrive from wintering grounds in eastern Africa with the south west monsoon. In various Indian languages it is known as the herald of the monsoon and thus much welcomed. It parasitises Turdoides babblers particularly Jungle, Striated and Common Babblers. Thus it favours scrub and wooded areas, gardens, the edges of cultivation and, in its search for the nests of Striated Babblers, reedbeds. Within our area it has a wide distribution. The Pied Cuckoo often draws attention to itself by its loud penetrating “ pew pew pew” call which it usually makes from an open perch. It can be confiding and quite absorbed while searching for nests. It is usually seen singly or in pairs but, particularly early in the season, small noisy groups may be encountered. 

The hosts’ nests are found by careful observation and the female lays no more than one egg in each nest. However several females may lay in one nest. Unlike other young cuckoos, these young do not eject the young of the host but compete with them for food. The adult cuckoos have nothing to do with their offspring who are reared by their foster parents and who, even after leaving the nest, follow them around. The adults leave before the young are ready and so most birds seen after August are juveniles. They make the migration with no parental guidance. It is interesting that babblers, which are very social breeders (in that the whole troop will feed the young in the nest), are frequently the chosen hosts of cuckoos. Perhaps the cuckoos have found that their young have a better chance of survival if there are more deliverers of food.