The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the … Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus. Related topics. IUCN Red List least concern species (569) Cite iucn maint (467) Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus (369) Birds described in … Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) identification guide.

Previous research found that cuckoos adapt the appearance of their eggs to match those of birds whose nests they invade.

There has been mixed evidence of this for European Common Cuckoo populations 27,28 —future work needs to address the issue of whether there are constraints on the timing of spring migration that could cause a mismatch with breeding resource availability (including host nests in this case) in UK cuckoos.

Identifying features, nesting and feeding habits, call, and where to see them in the UK.

There are currently around 15,000 breeding pairs in the UK.

The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis.The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae respectively. The Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.

This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. The cuckoos are a family of birds, Cuculidae, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes.

There is a limit to how convincingly the common cuckoo can mimic other birds, according to scientists. A new study shows that their imitation is not sophisticated enough to mirror local variations in reed warbler eggs.

The common cuckoo Image source: MriyaWildlife via Getty Images.

Common cuckoo.

The Cuckoo, known as the Common Cuckoo outside the UK to distinguish from other birds in the cuckoo family, is well-known for the call after which it is named, for its summer migration to Europe/Asia from its wintering grounds in Africa/South Asia and for being a brood parasite (laying its eggs in the nests of other birds). Apart from their distinctive ‘cuck-oo’ call, you can recognise a cuckoo from its grey back and head, long pointed wings, long tail, and barred white underparts.