A few weeks ago I was privileged to witness something that I consider to be a true wonder of the natural world and something that I had never witnessed before, a Cuckoo chick being fed by its' adopted parents. In this case the parent was a Reed Warbler which was extremely attentive, feeding its' oversized offspring every five minutes or so.
The Reed Warbler does not question its' weird looking youngster and the Cuckoo chick knows that it is a Cuckoo, indeed it will fledge and then fly to Africa knowing where all the other Cuckoos go and then return to start the process all over again. The Reed Warbler will breed again the folowing year and probably raise Reed Warbler chicks, never once thinking that these young look different to the bird they raised the previous year.
A true case of nature over nurture.
