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Cuckoos thrown off by climate change

Opportunistic birds shift victims in response to earlier springs

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Warming temperatures in parts of Europe may be knocking the local cuckoos out of sync with some of their usual targets for illicit egg laying.

FOSTER DISASTER A cuckoo chick barely fits in the nest of a great reed warbler, yet misguided warbler parents have raised it. A new study finds that in areas where the climate has warmed, cuckoos are starting to trick different species into raising their young.