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
European Bird Census Council Census News", which has been running since 1987. European Bird Census Council The European Bird Census Council (EBCC) is an ornithological organisation which studies the population, distribution and demographics of European birds in order to inform conservation and management efforts. The organisation is headquartered in the Netherlands, and has active members in over 40 countries. The EBCC was founded in 1992, following the merger of two ornithological organisations, the European Ornithological Atlas Committee and the International Bird Census Committee. The EBCC is responsible for the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS), which aims to collect data from national bird monitoring