Cuckoo Clock Information

Although cuckoo clocks are obviously the first things that come to mind when you think of birds and timepieces, these two seemingly dissimilar things have been connected for thousands of years. Around 250 BC, Ctesibius, a Greek mathematician, developed a timekeeping device that used a Rube Goldberg-esque model to make an owl move. Later, in the Middle Ages, there’s evidence of a mechanical clock which used a bird to sound the hours. Additionally, the Heritage Museum in St. Petersburg is home to a famous golden peacock standing over six feet tall.

Nobody knows for certain how or why bird began being used in clocks, but some breeds obviously make more since than others. Understandably, roosters have often been associated with timekeeping mechanisms for their habit of meeting the dawn with crowing.