Common Cuckoo
Cuculus canorus
Aves › Cuculiformes › Cuculidae › Cuculus
Conservation status: least_concern
The Common Cuckoo is a sleek, gray bird famous for laying its eggs in other birds' nests rather than building its own, leaving host parents to raise its chicks. You'll recognize it by its distinctive two-note "coo-coo" call that echoes through woodlands and fields during spring breeding season.
How To Identify
It is a medium-sized passerine bird with relatively drab, cryptic plumage of grayish-brown tones. Males typically display distinct black streaks across the breast and flanks, while females are often more uniformly colored.
Habitat
The Common Cuckoo lives in woodland edges, heathland, and wetlands.
Behaviour
The Common Cuckoo is a brood parasite whose male's call signals spring arrival.
Did You Know?
Each female cuckoo specialises in parasitising one host species and lays eggs that mimic that host's eggs.
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