98-461: 30, See text Icterids ( / ˈ ɪ k t ər ɪ d / ) or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae ( / ɪ k ˈ t ɛr ɪ d i / ), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. The family contains 108 species and is divided into 30 genera. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The species in
196-531: A cosmopolitan distribution ; the majority of species are tropical. Some species are migratory . The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae, and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Some species are brood parasites , laying their eggs in the nests of other species and giving rise to the metaphor "cuckoo's egg" , but most species raise their own young. Cuckoos have played a role in human culture for thousands of years, appearing in Greek mythology as sacred to
294-438: A sign stimulus . Since obligate brood parasites need to successfully trick their host for them to reproduce, they have evolved adaptations at several stages of breeding. High costs of parasitism are exerted on the host, leading to strong selections on the host to recognize and reject parasitic eggs. The adaptations and counter-adaptations between hosts and parasites have led to a coevolution "arms race". This means that if one of
392-415: A territory and to attract a mate. Within a species, the calls are remarkably consistent across the range, even in species with very large ranges. This suggests, along with the fact that many species are not raised by their true parents, that the calls of cuckoos are innate and not learnt. Although cuckoos are diurnal, many species call at night. The cuckoo family gets its English and scientific names from
490-529: A continent in that southern part; full of animals and more populous than our Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and even more temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us. Vespucci's letter was a publishing sensation in Europe that was immediately and repeatedly reprinted in several other countries. Peter Martyr, who had been writing and circulating private letters commenting on Columbus's discoveries since 1493, often shares credit with Vespucci for designating
588-418: A host nest. Cuckoo eggshells have two distinct layers. In some nesting cuckoos, a thick, outer, chalky layer is not present on the eggs of most brood-parasitic species, with some exceptions, and the eggshells of Old World parasitic cuckoos have a thick outer layer that is different from that of nesting cuckoos. The cuckoo egg hatches earlier than the host eggs, and the cuckoo chick grows faster; in most cases,
686-584: A large open ocean between China on the east side of the map, and the inchoate largely water-surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map. Out of uncertainty, they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map, suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere. E.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as "Punta d'Asia"—"edge of Asia". Some maps, e.g.,
784-628: A number of Pacific islands and another is a winter migrant across much of the Pacific. The Cuculinae are the most widespread subfamily of cuckoos, and are distributed across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania. Amongst the Phaenicophaeinae, the malkohas and Asian ground cuckoos are restricted to southern Asia, the couas are endemic to Madagascar , and the yellowbill is widespread across Africa. The coucals are distributed from Africa through tropical Asia south into Australia and
882-460: A place to breed; for brood parasites the need is for suitable habitat for the host species. Cuckoos occur in a wide variety of habitats . The majority of species occur in forests and woodland, principally in the evergreen rainforests of the tropics, where they are typically but not exclusively arboreal. Some species inhabit or are even restricted to mangrove forests; these include the little bronze cuckoo of Australia , some malkohas, coucals, and
980-409: A rudder during flight in the arboreal species. The wing shape also varies with lifestyle, with the more migratory species such as the black-billed cuckoo possessing long, narrow wings capable of strong, direct flight, and the more terrestrial and sedentary cuckoos such as the coucals and malkohas having shorter rounded wings and a more laboured, gliding flight. The subfamily Cuculinae comprises
1078-557: A similar fashion to some cuckoos . Some species of icterid have become agricultural pests ; for example, red-winged blackbirds in the United States are considered the worst vertebrate pests on some crops, such as rice . The cost of controlling blackbirds in California was $ 30 per acre in 1994. Not all species have been as successful, and a number of species are threatened with extinction. These include insular forms such as
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#17328026084761176-460: A study of the European common cuckoos that females lay their egg in the nest of a host that has eggs that look similar to its own. Other species of cuckoo lay "cryptic" eggs, which are dark in color when their hosts' eggs are light. This is a trick to hide the egg from the host, and is exhibited in cuckoos that parasitize hosts with dark, domed nests. Some adult parasitic cuckoos completely destroy
1274-481: A template of a parasitic egg is costly and imperfect and likely not identical to each host's egg. The other one is the discordancy hypothesis, which states that a host compares eggs in the clutch and identifies the odd ones. However, if parasitic eggs made the majority of eggs in the clutch, then hosts ends up rejecting their own eggs. More recent studies have found that both mechanisms more likely contribute to host discrimination of parasitic eggs since one compensates for
1372-441: Is again the anis, which are often extremely trusting towards humans and other species. Most cuckoos are insectivores , and in particular are specialised in eating larger insects and caterpillars , including noxious, hairy types avoided by other birds. They are unusual among birds in processing their prey prior to swallowing, rubbing it back and forth on hard objects such as branches and then crushing it with special bony plates in
1470-495: Is greater than in any other passerine family (unless the kinglet calyptura belongs with the cotingas , which would then have greater variation). One unusual morphological adaptation shared by the icterids is gaping, where the skull is configured to allow them to open their bills strongly rather than passively, allowing them to force open gaps to obtain otherwise hidden food. Most icterids have rounded tails and lack rictal bristles. They have nine primary feathers and are placed among
1568-477: Is now named South America, that same map famously labels simply " America ". Martin Waldseemüller 's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority, with the Asian land mass merging into North America, which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis , and quietly drops the "America" label from South America, calling it merely Terra incognita . The western coast of
1666-571: Is selective pressure on cuckoos to lessen their egg size to be a more effective mimic, but physiological constraints hinder the species from doing so. Mimicry may also be imperfect due to a lack of strong selection pressures towards the parasite. Oriental reed warbler hosts do not discriminate between warbler-sized model eggs and slightly larger model cuckoo eggs. Since cuckoos in this situation can effectively parasitize despite laying eggs slightly larger than those of their hosts, there are little selective pressures to evolve "perfect" mimicry. To select
1764-543: Is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth 's Western Hemisphere , particularly the Americas . The term arose in the early 16th century during Europe 's Age of Discovery , after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin -language pamphlet Mundus Novus , presenting his conclusion that these lands (soon called America based on Amerigo's name ) constitute a new continent . This realization expanded
1862-542: Is widely known in passerines, the sexual dimorphism by size is uniquely extreme in icterids. For example, the male great-tailed grackle is 60% heavier than the female. The smallest icterid species is the orchard oriole , in which the female averages 15 cm in length (6 in) and 18 g (0.040 lb) in weight, while the largest is the Amazonian oropendola , the male of which measures 52 cm (20 in) and weighs about 550 g (1.21 lb). This variation
1960-639: The Terra Australis that had been posited as a hypothetical southern continent. All of the New World countries use the Latin script as its official script. The Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci is usually credited for coming up with the term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) for the Americas in his 1503 letter, giving it its popular cachet, although similar terms had been used and applied before him. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto used
2058-534: The Centropodidae and Crotophagidae , respectively. The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae , the other two being the turacos and the bustards . The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera. The cuckoos are generally medium-sized, slender birds. Most species live in trees, though a sizeable minority are ground-dwelling. The family has
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#17328026084762156-479: The Cuculidae ( / k juː ˈ k j uː l ɪ d iː / kew- KEW -lih-dee ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( / k j uː ˈ k j uː l ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / kew- KEW -lih-for-meez ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo , roadrunners , koels , malkohas , couas , coucals , and anis . The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families,
2254-606: The Gulf of Paria implied that a previously unknown continent must lie behind it. Columbus proposes that the South American landmass is not a "fourth" continent, but rather the terrestrial paradise of Biblical tradition, a land allegedly known, but undiscovered, by Christendom . In another letter to the nurse of Prince John, written 1500, Columbus refers to having reached a "new heavens and world" ("nuevo cielo é mundo") and that he had placed "another world" ("otro mundo") under
2352-646: The Solomon Islands . The remaining three subfamilies have a New World distribution, all are found in both North and South America. The Coccyzinae reach the furthest north of the three subfamilies, breeding in Canada , whereas the anis reach as far north as Florida and the typical ground cuckoos are in the Southwest United States . For the cuckoos, suitable habitat provides a source of food (principally insects and especially caterpillars) and
2450-576: The West Indies with what returning sailors told him of the East Indies . Vespucci wrote a preliminary letter to Lorenzo, while anchored at Bezeguiche, which he sent back with the Portuguese fleet, which expressed a certain puzzlement about his conversations. Vespucci ultimately was convinced while on his mapping expedition of eastern Brazil from 1501 to 1502. After returning from Brazil in
2548-403: The forest floor , whereas the red-capped ca-ca ran and pounced on prey. Both species also showed seasonal flexibility in prey and foraging techniques. The parasitic cuckoos are generally not recorded as participating in mixed-species feeding flocks , although some studies in eastern Australia found several species participated in the nonbreeding season, but were mobbed and unable to do so in
2646-512: The giant coua of Madagascar , the coral-billed ground-cuckoo of Indochina , and various large Indo-Pacific coucals such as the goliath coucal of Halmahera , Timor coucal , buff-headed coucal , ivory-billed coucal , violaceous coucal , and larger forms of the pheasant coucal . The channel-billed cuckoo , at 630 g (1 lb 6 oz) and 63 cm (25 in) is the largest parasitic cuckoo. Generally, little sexual dimorphism in size occurs, but where it exists, it can be either
2744-959: The guava , papaya and pineapple . There are rare instances of overlap, e.g., the calabash (bottle-gourd), cotton , and yam are believed to have been domesticated separately in both the Old and New World, or their early forms possibly brought along by Paleo-Indians from Asia during the last glacial period . [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Antarctica [REDACTED] Asia [REDACTED] Australia [REDACTED] Europe [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] South America [REDACTED] Afro-Eurasia [REDACTED] Americas [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] South America Cuckoo 33 genera, see text Cuckoos are birds in
2842-549: The lesser cuckoo , which flies from Africa to India , and the common cuckoo of Europe, which flies nonstop over the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert on the voyage between Europe and central Africa. Within Africa, 10 species make regular intracontinental migrations that are described as polarised; that is, they spend the nonbreeding season in the tropical centre of the continent and move north and south to breed in
2940-566: The long-tailed meadowlark . The highest densities of breeding species are found in Colombia and southern Mexico . They inhabit a range of habitats, including scrub, swamp, forest, and savanna. Temperate species are migratory , with many species that nest in the United States and Canada moving south into Mexico and Central America. Icterids are variable in size, and often display considerable sexual dimorphism , with brighter coloration and greater size in males being typical. While such dimorphism
3038-423: The nine-primaried oscines . Icterids have adapted to taking a wide range of foods. Oropendolas and caciques use their gaping motion to open the skins of fruit to obtain the soft insides, and have long bills adapted to the process. Others such as cowbirds and the bobolink have shorter, stubbier bills for crushing seeds. The Jamaican blackbird uses its bill to pry amongst tree bark and epiphytes , and has adopted
Icterid - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-472: The plumage is exhibited by the family. Some species, particularly the brood parasites, have cryptic plumage, whereas others have bright and elaborate plumage. This is particularly true of the Chrysococcyx or glossy cuckoos, which have iridescent plumage. Some cuckoos have a resemblance to hawks in the genus Accipiter with barring on the underside; this apparently alarms potential hosts, allowing
3234-520: The turkey were originally domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples in Mesoamerica . Agriculturalists in the Andean region of South America brought forth the cassava , peanut , potato , quinoa and domesticated animals like the alpaca , guinea pig and llama . Other New World crops include the sweetpotato , cashew , cocoa , rubber , sunflower , tobacco , and vanilla , and fruits like
3332-474: The yellow-billed cuckoo . The cuckoos are, for the most part, solitary birds that seldom occur in pairs or groups. The biggest exception to this are the anis of the Americas, which have evolved cooperative breeding and other social behaviours. For the most part, the cuckoos are also diurnal as opposed to nocturnal, but many species call at night (see below). The cuckoos are also generally a shy and retiring family, more often heard than seen. The exception to this
3430-553: The "discoverer of the new globe" ("Colonus ille novi orbis repertor"). A year later, on 20 October 1494, Peter Martyr again refers to the marvels of the New Globe ("Novo Orbe") and the " Western Hemisphere " ("ab occidente hemisphero"). In Columbus's 1499 letter to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, reporting the results of his third voyage, he relates how the massive waters of South America's Orinoco delta rushing into
3528-480: The 1506 Contarini–Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map, bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus's assertions, have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America, Labrador, Newfoundland, etc. These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent—Vespucci's "New World" proper—detached and floating below by itself. The Waldseemüller map of 1507, which accompanied
3626-419: The Americas as a new world. Peter Martyr used the term Orbe Novo , meaning "New Globe", in the title of his history of the discovery of the Americas, which began appearing in 1511. The Vespucci passage above applied the "New World" label to merely the continental landmass of South America . At the time, most of the continent of North America was not yet discovered, and Vespucci's comments did not eliminate
3724-591: The Americas remained unclear. That there must be a large ocean between Asia and the Americas was implied by the known existence of vast continuous sea along the coasts of East Asia . Given the size of the Earth as calculated by Eratosthenes this left a large space between Asia and the newly discovered lands. Even prior to Vespucci, several maps, e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504, placed
3822-445: The Americas until they were introduced by post-Columbian contact in the 1490s. Many common crops were originally domesticated in the Americas before they spread worldwide after Columbian contact, and are still often referred to as " New World crops ". Common beans ( phaseolus ), maize , and squash —the " three sisters "—as well as the avocado , tomato , and wide varieties of capsicum ( bell pepper , chili pepper , etc.), and
3920-770: The Americas, to distinguish them from their counterparts in the "Old World" (Europe, Africa and Asia)—e.g., New World monkeys , New World vultures , New World warblers . The label is also often used in agriculture. Asia, Africa, and Europe share a common agricultural history stemming from the Neolithic Revolution , and the same domesticated plants and animals spread through these three continents thousands of years ago, making them largely indistinct and useful to classify together as "Old World". Common Old World crops, e.g., barley , lentils , oats , peas , rye , wheat , and domesticated animals, e.g., cattle , chickens , goats , horses , pigs , sheep , did not exist in
4018-528: The Atlantic coast of North America in what is present-day Canada and the United States . The term "New World" is still commonly employed when discussing historic spaces, particularly the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the subsequent European colonization of the Americas . It has been framed as being problematic for applying a colonial perspective of discovery and not doing justice to either
Icterid - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-487: The Indies "), and consequently came up with alternative names to refer to them. Only a few weeks after Columbus's return from his first voyage, Martyr wrote letters referring to Columbus's discovered lands as the "western antipodes" ("antipodibus occiduis", letter of 14 May 1493), the "new hemisphere of the earth" ("novo terrarum hemisphaerio", 13 September 1493). In a letter dated 1 November 1493, he refers to Columbus as
4214-535: The Jamaican blackbird, yellow-shouldered blackbird , and St Lucia oriole , all threatened by habitat loss; and the tricolored blackbird of California, which is threatened by habitat loss and destruction of nests. Cacique and oropendola species are called paucar or similar names in Peru . As paucares are considered very intelligent, Native Americans feed the brains to their children to make them fast learners. As
4312-534: The New World, including the Pacific Ocean , was discovered in 1513 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa , twenty years after Columbus' initial voyage. It was a few more years before the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan 's between 1519 and 1522 determined that the Pacific Ocean definitely formed a single large body of water that separates Asia from the Americas. Several years later, the Pacific Coast of North America
4410-546: The Old World species and three of the New World cuckoo species ( pheasant , pavonine , and striped ) are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds and giving rise to the metaphor "cuckoo's egg" . These species are obligate brood parasites, meaning that they only reproduce in this fashion. The best-known example is the European common cuckoo. In addition to the above noted species, others sometimes engage in nonobligate brood parasitism, laying their eggs in
4508-592: The anis, which have eight. The cuckoos have a cosmopolitan distribution , ranging across all the world's continents except Antarctica. They are absent from the southwest of South America, the far north and northwest of North America, and the driest areas of the Middle East and North Africa (although they occur there as passage migrants ). In the oceanic islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans they generally only occur as vagrants , but one species breeds on
4606-784: The aptly named mangrove cuckoo of the New World . In addition to forests, some species of cuckoos occupy more open environments; this can include even arid areas such as deserts in the case of the greater roadrunner or the pallid cuckoo . Temperate migratory species, such as the common cuckoo, inhabit a wide range of habitats to make maximum use of the potential brood hosts, from reed beds (where they parasitise reed warblers ) to treeless moors (where they parasitise meadow pipits ). Most species of cuckoo are sedentary, but some undertake regular seasonal migrations , and others undertake partial migrations over part of their range. Species breeding at higher latitudes migrate to warmer climates during
4704-400: The atypical anis , which are the small, clumsy anis and the larger guira cuckoo . The anis have massive bills and smooth, glossy feathers. The feathers of the cuckoos are generally soft, and often become waterlogged in heavy rain. Cuckoos often sun themselves after rain, and the anis hold their wings open in the manner of a vulture or cormorant while drying. Considerable variation in
4802-670: The back of the mouth. They also take a wide range of other insects and animal prey. The lizard cuckoos of the Caribbean have, in the relative absence of birds of prey , specialised in taking lizards . Larger, ground types, such as coucals and roadrunners, also feed variously on snakes, lizards, small rodents, and other birds, which they bludgeon with their strong bills. Ground species may employ different techniques to catch prey. A study of two coua species in Madagascar found that Coquerel's coua obtained prey by walking and gleaning on
4900-562: The breeding season in the anis, but can be ejected at any time by guria cuckoos. Polyandry has been confirmed in the African black coucal and is suspected to occur in the other coucals, perhaps explaining the reversed sexual dimorphism in the group. Most cuckoo species, including malkohas, couas, coucals, and roadrunners, and most other American cuckoos, build their own nests, although a large minority engages in brood parasitism (see below). Most of these species nest in trees or bushes, but
4998-451: The breeding season. Ground cuckoos of the genus Neomorphus are sometimes seen feeding in association with army ant swarms, although they are not obligate ant followers , as are some antbirds . The anis are ground feeders that follow cattle and other large mammals when foraging; in a similar fashion to cattle egrets , they snatch prey flushed by the cattle, so enjoy higher foraging success rates in this way. Several koels, couas, and
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#17328026084765096-476: The brood-parasitic cuckoos of the Old World. [ 6 ] They tend to conform to the classic shape, with (usually) long tails, short legs, long, narrow wings, and an arboreal lifestyle. The largest species, the channel-billed cuckoo, also has the most outsized bill in the family, resembling that of a hornbill . The subfamily Phaenicophaeinae comprises the nonparasitic cuckoos of the Old World, and include
5194-577: The call of the male cuckoo, also familiar from cuckoo clocks . In most cuckoos, the calls are distinctive to particular species, and are useful for identification. Several cryptic species are best identified on the basis of their calls. The family Cuculidae was introduced by English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1819. Very little fossil record of cuckoos has been found, and their evolutionary history remains unclear. Dynamopterus
5292-401: The case of the New World ground cuckoos. Nonparasitic cuckoos, like most other nonpasserines, lay white eggs, but many of the parasitic species lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts. The young of all species are altricial . Nonparasitic cuckoos leave the nest before they can fly, and some New World species have the shortest incubation periods among birds. About 56 of
5390-583: The channel-billed cuckoo feed mainly on fruit, but they are not exclusively frugivores . The parasitic koels and channel-billed cuckoo in particular consume mainly fruit when raised by frugivore hosts such as the Australasian figbird and pied currawong . Other species occasionally take fruit, as well. Couas consume fruit in the dry season when prey is harder to find. The cuckoos are an extremely diverse group of birds with regards to breeding systems. Most are monogamous , but exceptions exist. The anis and
5488-458: The chick evicts the eggs and/or young of the host species. The chick has no time to learn this behavior, nor does any parent stay around to teach it, so it must be an instinct passed on genetically. One reason for the cuckoo egg's hatching sooner is that, after the egg is fully formed, the female cuckoo holds it in her oviduct for another 24 hours prior to laying. This means that the egg has already had 24 hours of internal incubation. Furthermore,
5586-554: The chief of the navigation of Spain. Although the proceedings of the Toro-Burgos conferences are missing, it is almost certain that Vespucci articulated his recent 'New World' thesis to his fellow navigators there. During these conferences, Spanish officials seem to have accepted that the Antilles and the known stretch of Central America were not the Indies as they had hoped. Though Columbus still insisted they were. They set out
5684-427: The couas, malkohas, and ground cuckoos. They are more terrestrial cuckoos, with strong and often long legs and short, rounded wings. The subfamily typically has brighter plumage and brightly coloured bare skin around the eye. The coucals are another terrestrial Old World subfamily of long-tailed, long-legged, and short-winged cuckoos. They are large, heavyset birds with the largest, the greater black coucal , being around
5782-435: The coucals lay their eggs in nests on the ground or in low shrubs. Though on some occasions nonparasitic cuckoos parasitize other species, the parent still helps feed the chick. The nests of cuckoos vary in the same way as the breeding systems. The nests of malkohas and Asian ground cuckoos are shallow platforms of twigs, but those of coucals are globular or domed nests of grasses. The New World cuckoos build saucers or bowls in
5880-427: The cuckoo's internal temperature is 3-4 °C higher than the temperature at which the egg is incubated in the nest, and the higher temperature means that the egg incubates faster, so at the time it is laid, the egg has already had the equivalent of 30 hours incubation in a nest. The chick encourages the host to keep pace with its high growth rate with its rapid begging call and the chick's open mouth which serves as
5978-534: The dominion of the Kings of Spain. The term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) was coined in Spring 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci in a letter written to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici , which was published in Latin ) in 1503–04 under the title Mundus Novus . Vespucci's letter contains the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to
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#17328026084766076-436: The eggs of their chosen host. Some birds are able to distinguish cuckoo eggs from their own, leading to those eggs least like the host's being thrown out of the nest. Parasitic cuckoos that show the highest levels of egg mimicry are those whose hosts exhibit high levels of egg rejection behavior. Some hosts do not exhibit egg rejection behavior and the cuckoo eggs look very dissimilar from the host eggs. It has also been shown in
6174-462: The evolutionary niche filled elsewhere in the Neotropics by woodcreepers . Orioles drink nectar. The nesting habits of these birds are also variable, including pendulous woven nests in the oropendolas and orioles. Many icterids are colonial , nesting in colonies of up to 100,000 birds. Some cowbird species engage in brood parasitism ; females lay their eggs in the nests of other species, in
6272-468: The family vary widely in size, shape, behavior, and coloration. The name, meaning " jaundiced ones" (from the prominent yellow feathers of many species) comes from the Ancient Greek ikteros via the Latin ictericus . This group includes the New World blackbirds, New World orioles , the bobolink , meadowlarks , grackles , cowbirds , oropendolas , and caciques . Despite the similar names,
6370-422: The famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume, which includes reprints of Vespucci's letters, comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea, with no stretching land fingers, between Asia on the eastern side and the New World. It is represented two times in the same map in a different way: with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America on the western side—which, on what
6468-729: The female to access a host nest. The young of some brood parasites are coloured so as to resemble the young of the host. For example, the Asian koels breeding in India have black offspring to resemble their crow hosts, whereas in the Australian koels the chicks are brown like their honeyeater hosts. Sexual dimorphism in plumage is uncommon in the cuckoos, being most common in the parasitic Old World species. Cuckoos have 10 primary flight feathers and 9–13 secondary flight feathers . All species have 10 tail feathers , apart from
6566-531: The females can lay their eggs in the nest. Some host species may directly try to prevent cuckoos laying eggs in their nest in the first place – birds whose nests are at high risk of cuckoo-contamination are known to "mob" attack cuckoos to drive them out of the area. Parasitic cuckoos are grouped into gentes , with each gens specializing in a particular host. Some evidence suggests that the gentes are genetically different from one another. Female parasitic cuckoos sometimes specialize and lay eggs that closely resemble
6664-482: The first groups are only distantly related to the Old World common blackbird (a thrush ) or the Old World orioles . The Icteridae are not to be confused with the Icteriidae , a family created in 2017 and consisting of one species — the yellow-breasted chat ( Icteria virens ). Most icterid species live in the tropics, although many species also occur in temperate regions, such as the red-winged blackbird and
6762-569: The geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that the world only included Afro-Eurasian lands. Africa , Asia , and Europe became collectively called the " Old World " of the Eastern Hemisphere , while the Americas were then referred to as "the fourth part of the world", or the "New World". Antarctica and Oceania are considered neither Old World nor New World lands, since they were only discovered by Europeans much later. They were associated instead with
6860-619: The goddess Hera . In Europe, the cuckoo is associated with spring, and with cuckoldry , for example in Shakespeare 's Love's Labour's Lost . In India, cuckoos are sacred to Kamadeva , the god of desire and longing, whereas in Japan, the cuckoo symbolises unrequited love. Cuckoos are medium-sized birds that range in size from the little bronze cuckoo , at 17 g (0.6 oz) and 15 cm (6 in), to moderately large birds, ranging from 60–80 cm (24–31 in) in length, such as
6958-523: The guira cuckoo lay their eggs in communal nests, which are built by all members of the group. Incubation, brooding, and territorial defence duties are shared by all members of the group. Within these species, the anis breed as groups of monogamous pairs, but the guira cuckoos are not monogamous within the group, exhibiting a polygynandrous breeding system. This group nesting behaviour is not completely cooperative; females compete and may remove others' eggs when laying theirs. Eggs are usually only ejected early in
7056-420: The historic or geographic complexity of the world. It is argued that both 'worlds' and the age of Western colonialism rather entered a new stage, as in the ' modern world '. In wine terminology , "New World" uses a particular definition. " New World wines " include not only North American and South American wines, but also those from South Africa , Australia , New Zealand , and all other locations outside
7154-421: The host's clutch if they reject the cuckoo egg. In this case, raising the cuckoo chick is less of a cost than the alternative, total clutch destruction. Cuckoo egg physiology can limit the degree of mimetic accuracy. Due to larger chick size on average for parasites compared to hosts, this is a physiological constraint on egg size, a minimum egg size needed to support a healthy cuckoo chick. In these cases, there
7252-464: The interactions were not necessarily simply parasitic or mutualistic. This relationship was not observed for any other host species, or for any other species of cuckoo. Great spotted cuckoo chicks do not evict host eggs or young, and are smaller and weaker than carrion crow chicks, so both of these factors may have contributed to the effect observed. However, subsequent research using a dataset from southern Spain failed to replicate these findings, and
7350-418: The lab show similar findings: cuckoos parasitized artificial nests containing blue eggs more frequently than pink ones. Two main hypotheses on the cognitive mechanisms mediate host distinguishing of eggs. One hypothesis is true recognition, which states that a host compares eggs present in its clutch to an internal template (learnt or innate), to identify if parasitic eggs are present. However, memorizing
7448-477: The limitations of the other. The parasitism is not necessarily entirely detrimental to the host species. A 16-year dataset was used in 2014 to find that carrion crow nests in a region of northern Spain were more successful overall (more likely to produce at least one crow fledgling) when parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo . The researchers attributed this to a strong-smelling predator-repelling substance secreted by cuckoo chicks when attacked, and noted that
7546-523: The male or the female that is larger. One of the most important distinguishing features of the family is the feet, which are zygodactyl , meaning that the two inner toes point forward and the two outer backward. The two basic body forms are arboreal species (such as the common cuckoo ), which are slender and have short tarsi , and terrestrial species (such as the roadrunners ), which are more heavy set and have long tarsi. Almost all species have long tails that are used for steering in terrestrial species and as
7644-418: The male plays no part in nesting and care of the young, a man who does not work may be called a "male paucar ". The family group was introduced in 1825 as a subfamily Icterina by Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors . He placed the subfamily in the starling family Sturnidae . A phylogenetic analysis of the passerine families by Carl Oliveros and collaborators published in 2019 found that the family Icteridae
7742-555: The more arid and open savannah and deserts. This is the same as the situation in the Neotropics, where no species have this migration pattern, or tropical Asia, where a single species does. About 83% of the Australian species are partial migrants within Australia or travel to New Guinea and Indonesia after the breeding season. In some species, the migration is diurnal , as in the channel-billed cuckoo , or nocturnal , as in
7840-518: The most suitable host nests, cuckoos may “egg-match” as well. Daurian redstarts ( Phoenicurus auroreus ), another cuckoo host, lay clutches of either pink or blue eggs. Cuckoo eggs are more similar in reflectance and color to blue redstart eggs than pink ones. Furthermore, in-field observations revealed parasitism occurred more frequently in blue-egg redstart nests (19.3%) than in pink-egg redstart nests (7.9%). This suggests cuckoos prefer parasitizing nests containing eggs resembling their own. Experiments in
7938-457: The nests of members of their own species, in addition to raising their own young. Brood parasitism has even been seen in greater roadrunners, where their eggs were seen in the nests of common ravens and northern mockingbirds . The shells of the eggs of brood-parasitic cuckoos are usually thicker and stronger than those of their hosts. This protects the egg if a host parent tries to damage it, and may make it resistant to cracking when dropped into
8036-441: The new goal for Spanish explorers: find a sea passage or strait through the Americas, a path to Asia proper. The term New World was not universally accepted, entering English only relatively late, and has more recently been subject to criticism . While it became generally accepted after Amerigo Vespucci that Christopher Columbus ' discoveries were not Asia but a "New World", the geographic relationship between Europe and
8134-400: The opinion of the ancients was, that the greater part of the world beyond the equinoctial line to the south was not land, but only sea, which they have called the Atlantic; and even if they have affirmed that any continent is there, they have given many reasons for denying it is inhabited. But this opinion is false, and entirely opposed to the truth. My last voyage has proved it, for I have found
8232-462: The possibility that the islands of the Antilles discovered earlier by Christopher Columbus might still be the eastern edges of Asia, as Columbus continued to insist until his death in 1506. A 1504 globe , possibly created by Leonardo da Vinci , depicts the New World as only South America , excluding North America and Central America . A conference of navigators known as Junta de Navegantes
8330-410: The same size as the channel-billed cuckoo. Genera of the subfamily Coccyzinae are arboreal and long-tailed, as well, with a number of large insular forms. The New World ground cuckoos are similar to the Asian ground-cuckoos in being long legged and terrestrial, and includes the long-billed roadrunner , which can reach speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) when chasing prey. The final subfamily includes
8428-525: The second research team also criticised the methodology used in experiments described in the first paper. The authors of the first study have responded to points made in the second and both groups agree that further research is needed before the mutualistic effect can be considered proven. Cuckoos are often highly secretive, and in many cases, best known for their wide repertoire of calls . These are usually relatively simple, resembling whistles, flutes, or hiccups. The calls are used to demonstrate ownership of
8526-514: The species involved were to stop adapting, it would lose the race to the other species, resulting in decreased fitness of the losing species. The egg-stage adaptation is the best studied stage of this arms race. Cuckoos have various strategies for getting their eggs into host nests. Different species use different strategies based on host defensive strategies. Female cuckoos have secretive and fast laying behaviors, but in some cases, males have been shown to lure host adults away from their nests so that
8624-675: The spring of 1503, Vespucci authored the Mundus Novus letter in Lisbon and sent it to Lorenzo in Florence , with the famous opening paragraph: In passed days I wrote very fully to you of my return from new countries, which have been found and explored with the ships, at the cost and by the command of this Most Serene King of Portugal; and it is lawful to call it a new world, because none of these countries were known to our ancestors and to all who hear about them they will be entirely new. For
8722-518: The term "un altro mondo" ("another world") to refer to sub-Saharan Africa , which he explored in 1455 and 1456 on behalf of the Portuguese. This was merely a literary flourish, not a suggestion of a new "fourth" part of the world. Cadamosto was aware that sub-Saharan Africa was part of the African continent. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera , an Italian chronicler at the service of Spain , doubted Christopher Columbus 's claims to have reached East Asia ("
8820-504: The traditional wine-growing regions of Europe, North Africa and the Near East . The usefulness of these terms for wines though have been questioned as arbitrary and too generalized. In a biological context, species can be divided into those in the Old World ( Palearctic , Afrotropic ) and those in the New World ( Nearctic , Neotropic ). Biological taxonomists often attach the "New World" label to groups of species found exclusively in
8918-475: The watering stop at Bezeguiche in present-day Dakar , Senegal , as Vespucci was on his expedition to chart the coast of newly discovered Brazil and the ships of the Second Portuguese India armada , commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral , were returning from India . Having already visited the Americas in prior years, Vespucci likely found it difficult to reconcile what he had already seen in
9016-489: The west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus , but rather an entirely different continent that represented a "New World". According to Mundus Novus , Vespucci realized that he was in a "New World" on 17 August 1501 as he arrived in Brazil and compared the nature and people of the place with what Portuguese sailors told him about Asia . A chance meeting between two different expeditions occurred at
9114-688: The winter due to food availability. The long-tailed koel , which breeds in New Zealand, flies to its wintering grounds in Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia, a feat described as "perhaps the most remarkable overwater migration of any land bird." The yellow-billed cuckoo and black-billed cuckoo breed in North America and fly across the Caribbean Sea , a nonstop flight of 4,000 km (2,500 mi). Other long migration flights include
9212-415: Was sister to the family Icteriidae (containing the yellow breasted chat ) and together these two families formed a clade that was sister to the New World warbler family Parulidae . Parulidae – New World warblers (120 species) Icteriidae – yellow breasted chat Icteridae The genus level cladogram shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study by Alexis Powell and collaborators that
9310-466: Was an Oligocene genus of large cuckoo, though it may have been related to cariamas, instead. A 2014 genome analysis by Erich Jarvis and collaborators found a clade of birds that contains the orders Cuculiformes (cuckoos), Musophagiformes (turacos), and Otidiformes (bustards). This has been named the Otidimorphae. Relationships between the orders is unclear. The following cladogram shows
9408-461: Was assembled by the Spanish monarchs at Toro in 1505 and continued at Burgos in 1508 to digest all existing information about the Indies, come to an agreement on what had been discovered, and set out the future goals of Spanish exploration. Amerigo Vespucci attended both conferences, and seems to have had an outsized influence on them—at Burgos, he ended up being appointed the first piloto mayor ,
9506-487: Was mapped. The discovery of the Bering Straits in the early 18th century, established that Asia and North America were not connected by land. But some European maps of the 16th century, including the 1533 Johannes Schöner globe , still continued to depict North America as connected by a land bridge to Asia. In 1524, the term "New World" was used by Giovanni da Verrazzano in a record of his voyage that year along
9604-1863: Was published in 2014. The study compared mitochondrial gene sequences. The subfamilies are those that were proposed in 2016 by Van Remsen and collaborators. The numbers of species are taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill , Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Xanthocephalus – yellow-headed blackbird Dolichonyx – bobolink Sturnella – meadow larks (3 species) Leistes – blackbirds and meadowlarks (5 species) Amblycercus – yellow-billed cacique Cassiculus – Mexican cacique Psarocolius – oropendolas (9 species) Cacicus – Caciques and oropendolas (11 species) Icterus – orioles (32 species) Nesopsar – Jamaican blackbird Agelaius – (5 species) Molothrus – cowbirds (6 species) Dives – blackbirds (2 species) Ptiloxena – Cuban blackbird Euphagus – blackbirds (2 species) Quiscalus – grackles (7 species) Lampropsar – velvet-fronted grackle Hypopyrrhus – red-bellied grackle Gymnomystax – oriole blackbird Macroagelaius – mountain grackles (2 species) Amblyramphus – scarlet-headed blackbird Curaeus – austral blackbird Anumara – Forbes's blackbird Gnorimopsar – chopi blackbird Agelaioides – baywings (2 species) Oreopsar – Bolivian blackbird Agelasticus – blackbirds (3 species) Chrysomus – blackbirds (2 species) Xanthopsar – saffron-cowled blackbird Pseudoleistes – marshbirds (2 species) Prehistoric icterid genera that have been described from Pleistocene fossil remains are Pandanaris from Rancho La Brea and Pyelorhamphus from Shelter Cave . New World The term " New World "
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