Saturday, 22 May 2010

Hepatic Cuckoo

Late news of a hepatic female Cuckoo found at Sandwich bay along with a few 'grey' cuckoo's on monday. This is the first time I have been able to photograph the form and is only the second one I can remember seeing. The brown Cuckoo's I see tend to be juveniles, but at this time of the year I can be sure of this being a hepatic female!
A nice bird, I actually thought it was a kestrel when I first saw it flying away it was so rufous.





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5 comments:

  1. James Emerson22 May 2010 at 21:04

    Nice pictures! Pardon my ignorance, but what does hepatic mean in this context?

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  2. Ben Lewis23 May 2010 at 11:28

    Hi James, To be honest I'm not sure why its known as hepatic phase, all I know is that the rare brown females are known as hepatic morph. I don't think it has anything to do with the 'human' meaning- to do with taking blood away from the liver, but who knows could explain why they are brown.

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  3. Tim Allwood23 May 2010 at 23:54

    Hi Ben

    hope you're enjoying it down there

    it's called a hepatic morph because the reddish-brown colour resembles that of the liver.

    atb
    Tim

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  4. Ben Lewis24 May 2010 at 07:35

    Ahh, that'll be it then. Its no Norfolk but I'm enjoying it all the same here.

    Thanks Tim.

    ReplyDelete
  5. James Emerson24 May 2010 at 18:15

    Aha, thanks for that.

    James

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