cuckoo

We have all heard of Groundhogs Day, but apparently there is another creature who is also a meteorological
predictor!! 

June 21st is known as Cuckoo Warning Day.  If the cuckoo sings on June 21st, then you may expect a rainy summer. If she does not, then the summer will be dry.

Very Interesting! This is a new one on me- but I wonder where you can find a cuckoo. Do they announce the outcome on TV? How will we know!?  Well, here's what I found out about cuckoos:

---They range across all the continents except Antarctica.

---The majority of species occur in forests and woodland, principally in the evergreen rainforests of  tropics.

---Their calls are usually simple, resembling whistles, flutes, or hiccups.

---Cuckoos eat insects, such as caterpillars. Some are large enough to eat lizards. If you can't find a cuckoo
     bird, or if you live in Antarctica, perhaps you will be happy with a Cuckoo clock!
Cuckoo clocks have pipes that imitate the call of the Common Cuckoo in addition to striking a wire gong.  The mechanism to produce the cuckoo call was installed in almost every kind of cuckoo clock since the middle of the eighteenth century.  To take a look at some, click on the clock below.