Common cuckoo lay eggs that better imitate the host's eggs, the host species adapts and is more able to distinguish the cuckoo egg. A study of 248 common cuckoo and host eggs demonstrated that female cuckoos that parasitised common redstart nests laid eggs that matched better than those that targeted dunnocks. Spectroscopy was used to model how the host species saw the cuckoo eggs. Cuckoos that target dunnock nests lay white, brown-speckled eggs, in contrast to the dunnock's own blue eggs. The theory suggests that common redstarts have been parasitised by common cuckoos for longer, and so have evolved to be better
Common Bird Monitoring of India of time, these baseline data will fill a critical gap in the knowledge of these birds' ecologies. In the future, statistical analyses of these data can be utilized for directing conservation efforts and may help to initiate measures to protect these bird species from decline. These data are important for avian biodiversity in India and can be used as an advocacy tool. This program will also help to raise awareness and interest in the public regarding the conservation of common birds. Past examples of species that might have been helped by this kind of program include the critically endangered white-rumped