For the first time, scientists have found a bird species–Australia’s superb fairy-wren–that can spot a murderer. The killers are chicks of a particularly aggressive cuckoo species. The crime begins ...

Clever birds figure out how to trick others into raising their kids A common Cuckoo chick in Reed Wablers nest waits to be fed with its mouth wide open, in this undated file photo. Getty Images — ...

The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. The great spotted cuckoo sneaks its own egg into the nest of carrion crows. The chick grows up as ...

Cuckoos sneak their eggs into other birds’ nests and copy egg colors to avoid detection. This study explains how they adjust to many hosts.

Spot the impostor: A cuckoo finch chick (left) and a tawny-flanked prinia chick (right) open their beaks for a meal. Photo by Claire Spottiswoode Few examples of parasites in nature are as infamous as ...

The great spotted cuckoo is a parasitic bird that plops its eggs in nests of other birds, so others can care for its chicks. Those chicks might... This Freeloading Bird Brings Help — And The Help ...

Using field experiments in Africa and a new computer model that gives them a bird's-eye view of the world, scientists have discovered how a bird decides whether or not a cuckoo has laid an egg in its ...

America's brown-headed cowbird and the European cuckoo are the classic parasitic birds, laying their eggs in the nests of other bird species and leaving the chick-rearing to another parent.