25 August β 31 March
the coastal calendar, unshifted
Heard from any wooded edge in May; seen far less often, and mistaken for a hawk when it is.
The adults leave for Africa in July, weeks before their own young β a cuckoo fledgling migrates to a continent it has never seen with no bird of its species to follow. The calling stops in late June because the males have finished, not gone.
photos, sightings and recordings, off this site
where this species is on the list
| Phase | When | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| away for the winter | 25 August β 31 March | 219 days | Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south. |
| arriving | 1 April β 14 April | 14 days | Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak. |
| courting | 15 April β 9 May | 25 days | Song, display, fighting, scent-marking β pairs forming or reaffirming. |
| on eggs | 10 May β 31 May | 22 days | Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun. Laid in someone else's nest, one per nest, in under ten seconds. |
| raising young | 1 June β 30 June | 30 days | Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed. |
| young have left | 1 July β 19 July | 19 days | Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults. |
| leaving | 20 July β 24 August | 36 days | Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind. |