The female channel-billed cuckoo removes eggs and even young of "host" birds such as the Australian currawong and deposits eggs in their nest. The currawongs then nuture the young even though they are almost twice their size. Each time a female channel bill cuckoo arrives in the territory of our local birds, they are seen off as the birds know what will happen - except the currawong it would appear! These cuckoos are native to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and arrive here every spring and depart late summer upon finding foster parents. They range between 58 and 65 cm tall, and are the world's largest parasitic bird