Common cuckoo

Cuculus canorus Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now away for the winter 198 days

away for the winter Bird summer visitor

The whole year

20 August – 19 April

dates recorded for this region, not shifted from anywhere

Sitting the year outGetting readyYoung aboutYoung leaving

Where to look

Heard from any wooded edge in May; seen far less often, and mistaken for a hawk when it is.

Worth knowing

The adults leave for Africa in July, weeks before their own young — 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.

Look it up

photos, sightings and recordings, off this site

iNaturalist — photos and where people are seeing it Wikipedia — Cuculus canorus xeno-canto — recordings of the call

Regions

where this species is on the list

Dalmatian coastKvarner and IstriaVelebit and the DinaridesSlavonia and the Pannonian plainTukhlia, Ukrainian Carpathians

Phase by phase

dates as they fall in the region chosen above

Phase	When	Length	What it means
away for the winter	20 August – 19 April	243 days	Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south.
arriving	20 April – 30 April	11 days	Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak.
courting	1 May – 19 May	19 days	Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming.
on eggs	20 May – 9 June	21 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	10 June – 4 July	25 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young have left	5 July – 24 July	20 days	Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults.
leaving	25 July – 19 August	26 days	Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind.

Other birds in this region

Barn swallowBlack storkCommon ravenCommon swiftEuropean robinGreat spotted woodpeckerGreat titTawny owlWhite stork

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