Common cuckoo

Cuculus canorus · The common cuckoo is a slender grey bird that lays its eggs in other birds' nests and spends summers in Europe and Asia before migrating to Africa for winter.

Also called Eurasian cuckoo, European cuckoo.

Common cuckoo
Photo: Andy Morffew from Itchen Abbas, Hampshire, UK, CC BY 2.0
Common cuckoo
Photo: Afsarnayakkan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Common cuckoo
Photo: Shino jacob koottanad, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderCuculiformes
FamilyCuculidae
GenusCuculus
SpeciesCuculus canorus

Where it lives

Breeds from Ireland to Japan; winters in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Fun facts

  • The adult cuckoo looks like a sparrowhawk, a predator, which gives the female time to lay her eggs without being attacked.
  • A female cuckoo can hold her egg inside her body for an extra 24 hours, so her chick can hatch before the host's chicks.
  • A newborn cuckoo chick rolls the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them over the edge with its back.
  • Cuckoo chicks beg with a rapid call that sounds remarkably like a whole brood of host chicks, tricking the foster parents into feeding them more.

Play it

The Common cuckoo was the creature in Birder on November 1, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).