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CUCKOO
  Bird Call
| Characteristics: |
32 to 34 cm long. Blue-grey head, chest upperparts and wings. Its underparts are whitish, finely barred with dark colouring. Darker tail with white markings and rounded at the tip. During flight the pointed wings and long tail is a striking feature. Both sexes have similar colouring, though females have rusty-buff patches on the neck and breast. A rufous morph occurs, but it is rare.
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| Call: |
Its songs is a distinctive cuc koo note, usually delivered in a series of two or three phrases. Probably the most well known European bird call from which the bird gets its name. |
| Habitat: |
Inhabits parks and woodlands and open countryside interspersed with bushes, hedges and groves.
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| Distribution: |
A summer visitor to Europe, arriving in late April/ May with the adults departing by July. |
| Biology: |
Mainly feeds on small animals. One of the few European birds that doesn't build its own nest but leaves the incubation of its eggs and raising of its young to other birds (brood parasites). The female lays her eggs in the nests of various other bird species (from small birds to thrush-sized birds).
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