Common cuckoo

    Cuculus canorus

Castilian: Cuco común

Catalan: Cucut

Gallego: Cuco

Euskera: Kukua

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Cuculiformes

Family: Cuculidae

Migratory status: Summer resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

listen song

THREATS

The alteration of its habitat does not affect it as much as it does other species, although it is affected by agricultural transformations, the use of insecticides, and deforestation in river valleys. The harm caused by the eradication of the pine processionary should be noted, given that it is an essential part of this species' diet.

Length / size: 32-36 cm / 54-60 cm

Identification: Medium-sized bird with a long tail and pointed wings, which sometimes causes it to be confused with a small bird of prey during flight. The male's plumage is greyish on its back and barred white on its underparts. The female's plumage can be similar to the male's or reddish, although the latter is less common. Juveniles are like females during the reddish phase, but their feathers are edged in white and they have a characteristic white spot on their nape.

Song: It makes a characteristic and recognisable sound, a "cooo-coo, cooo-coo".

Diet: It primarily feeds on butterfly larvae, even those with stinging hairs or poisonous substances. It also eats beetles, crickets, worms, grasshoppers, and the occasional vertebrate.

Reproduction: This species practises nest parasitism, which means that it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, and these other birds will incubate and care for the cuckoo's chicks. The female cuckoo produces many eggs which she scatters one by one in different nests, and if the nest's owners do not notice, they will incubate the parasitic egg. The cuckoo chick is born before the rest, which allows it to get rid of the other eggs or newborn chicks by throwing them out of the nest, and the cuckoo thus receives all the care.The cuckoo chick normally grows to be larger than the owners of the invaded nest. Each female cuckoo is specialised in acting as a parasite toward one specific species, probably the one that raised it, and because of this, the imitation of its eggs is perfect. The species that are the most common victims are the dunnock, Eurasian weed warbler, European robin, and the meadow pipit.

HABITAT

It occupies oak, pine, etc. forests, and also grasslands, river meadows and Portuguese oak groves. It is common in areas surrounding wetlands with abundant aquatic vegetation, where several species of birds on which this species acts as a parasite live.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is distributed in almost all of Spain, except for the Canary Islands and Melilla.

In Castile and León: It breeds in all the provinces.

Movements and migrations: Migratory species. The western Palearctic population winters in tropical or subtropical areas of Africa. The postnuptial migration takes place between August-September, and the return to the breeding area in April.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 143000-320000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: