Cuculus canorus
A summer migrant famous for laying its eggs in other birds' nests.
Size: 32-34 cm | Habitat: Farmland & Countryside Birds | Season: Summer visitor
Slim and long-tailed with pointed wings, the cuckoo's silhouette is often mistaken for a small bird of prey. Far more often heard than seen, its unmistakable two-note call is one of the classic sounds of the British spring.
Blue-grey head, back and chest (male) · barred black-and-white underparts · long tail · pointed wings · yellow eye-ring
Cuckoos are brood parasites, laying a single egg in the nest of a host species — commonly dunnock, meadow pipit, or reed warbler — leaving the host to raise the chick. Adults leave the UK for Africa as early as June or July.
A young cuckoo instinctively pushes its foster siblings' eggs or chicks out of the nest within hours of hatching, so it gets all the food to itself.
The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a slim, long-tailed summer migrant, its silhouette in flight often mistaken for a small bird of prey, and its unmistakable two-note call one of the classic sounds of the British spring.
Cuckoos are brood parasites, laying a single egg in the nest of a host species such as dunnock, meadow pipit, or reed warbler. The cuckoo chick hatches first and instinctively evicts its foster siblings' eggs or chicks from the nest, ensuring it receives all the food its foster parents bring.
Recent tracking studies have shown that many British cuckoos die during their long migration to and from West Africa, particularly while crossing the Sahara — a discovery that has reshaped understanding of why the species has declined so steeply.
🔴 Conservation status: Red (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Red-listed under BoCC5 following severe declines in breeding numbers since the 1980s, now understood to be driven largely by conditions along the species' migration route to and from sub-Saharan Africa.