Common Cuckoo

How to identify

Field marks

1. Adult male slate-gray
2. Adult male has gray throat and breast, sharply set off from the barred underparts
3. Iris, eye-ring, base of the bill, legs and feet yellow
4. Often perches in the open during the breeding season, with wings drooped and tail cocked

Male, female and young

Females are mostly gray, occasionally of a reddish-brown color morph, which is more frequent among juveniles; juveniles are most clearly marked by a white patch on the nape and white feather edges.

Voice

The male gives “goo-ko”, mostly from an exposed perch; the female gives a loud bubbling call.

Similar species

Oriental Cuckoo

Very similar; Oriental Cuckoo has slightly shorter wings on average.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: United Kingdom, China, Spain

Common Cuckoo has been recorded at 2,646 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 116 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Amwell HMWT NRUnited Kingdom1,197 records
2. Lakenheath Fen RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom1,118 records
3. Minsmere RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom995 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United KingdomChinaSpainGermanyIndiaCzechiaPolandFrance

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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