Cuckoo whistle a sign of spring

Shining cuckoo have handsome plumage.

Hearing the first calls of a shining cuckoo makes for a special moment every spring.

That moment has already arrived in Wanganui, with calls heard in late September and early this month.

The main and most distinctive call is a series of upward whistles followed by a long downward whistle. According to www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz, it may be a courting or gathering call made when birds are together.

At the same times and in the same sort of places the tiny, trilling call of the grey warbler - the bird parasitised by shining cuckoo - may be heard.

Two species of cuckoo migrate to New Zealand every year. Shining cuckoo, also known as pipiwharauroa, are the smaller of the two.

They spend their winters in the Solomon Islands and the islands off New Guinea, and make the long flight across the south western Pacific Ocean to and from New Zealand twice a year.

Large groups of shining cuckoo are sometimes seen in this part of New Zealand.

Wanganui ornithologist Peter Frost said they didn't stay long and might be on their way to the South Island.

"A few years ago a large number of shining cuckoos were seen on one day, and they were gone the next."

The calls usually tail off by mid January, when the birds may be on their way north again.

Shining cuckoo are small birds that prefer to live in scrub, shrubby gardens or forest. They are hard to find from their calls, and are more often heard than seen.

Up close they are extremely handsome, the feathers on their backs a glowing green, and the bars across their chests a dull, iridescent olive green. The males and females look alike.

They are reasonably common in summertime.

Their food is insects. They eat the hairy caterpillars that feed on kowhai and cinerarias, and also ladybirds and other insects that are poisonous to most other birds.