cuckoo

Cuculus canorus


Facts

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cuckoo fact sheet

• More often heard than seen
  
  
• Quite hawk-like in flight, except for its graduated tail
  
  
• It has grey upper parts and barring below
  
  
• Some females are rusty brown
  
  
• Its wings are pointed and often drooped when perching
  
  
• A distinctive call - click on the recording below to listen:
  

Where found

Marshes, woods, hedges, moors and farmland.  

When to look for

• A summer visitor, from April - view live map

Fabulous cuckoo facts

• The familiar 'cuckoo' call is made by the male bird - the female cuckoo's song is a quiet gurgle
  
  
• Famous for its parasitic nesting behaviour, laying its eggs in other birds nests
  
  
• A female cuckoo lays only one egg in each nest, and an individual cuckoo will almost always keep to one kind of nest - such as that of the meadow pipit
  
  
• The cuckoo's egg is usually larger than that of the host bird, but it has a similar pattern and is accepted by the host bird as one of its own
  
  
• When the egg hatches, the young cuckoo pushes the other eggs or chicks out of the nest, and the foster parents continue to feed it until it is fully grown
  
  
• The young cuckoo may grow to two or three times the size of the foster parents that feed it