Common Cuckoo. Michele Mendi

Long-distance migrant with an extremely large breeding range covering most of Europe and Asia. In Europe only absent in the high-Arctic. Wintering range in rainforests of sub-Saharan Africa. Feeds on large Lepidoptera caterpillars. Obligate brood parasite of smaller songbirds commonly found in coniferous and deciduous woodlands, scrubs, heathlands, meadows, reedbeds and moorlands. Parasitizes commonly available hosts like Reed Warbler, Meadow Pipit, Common Redstart and Dunnock. European breeding population 5,960,000-10,800,000. Declining trend.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		8640000-13600000,10800000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Common Cuckoo

There exists but one ring recovery from the C African wintering grounds, a bird from the British Isles found dead in Cameroon. A bird from the Netherlands was found dead in Togo during autumn migration. C African wintering grounds have only recently been described using GPS transmitters, revealing that African wintering grounds are used by all cuckoos, including the Asian breeding population (Beijing Cuckoo Project). Young birds found their African wintering grounds even after translocation (Willemoes et al, 2016; Thorup et al 2020). Main connections based on ringing are between the European breeding grounds and S European countries where Cuckoos stopover before crossing the Mediterranean and Sahara, suggesting migration routes via Iberia, Italy, the Balkans and Greece.

Recoveries by Condition for Common Cuckoo

Approximately half of the encounters refer to birds recovered dead, of which the majority were not shot or otherwise intentionally taken. Some 39% of encounters refers to ringing recoveries, but has increased especially in recent decades. Until 1990, approximately half of the encounters referred to birds found sick or wounded, while more recently this category made up less than 20% of encounters. Bird are mainly shot at stopovers in S Europe and N Africa.

Annual Movements for Common Cuckoo

Long-distance migrant spending only a very limited time at the European breeding grounds, arriving in late Apr and initiating southward migration already in late Jun. Migrates to C African wintering grounds via stopovers in the Baltic, S Europe, N Africa and the Sahel. Arrival at wintering grounds in Nov – Dec. Northward migration initiated in Feb. Satellite tracking revealed clockwise loop migration for all populations, with the northward route always being west of the southward route (Willemoes et al. 2014).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Common Cuckoo

Connections are restricted to movements within Europe as encounters from the wintering grounds are largely lacking. Cuckoos are present at the European breeding grounds between Apr – Jul and most encounters are from this period. Connections between Iberia and Italy and more northern areas in Feb suggests the northward migration route. During southward migration in Jul – Sep, birds from the British Isles, the Low Countries and France connect to Iberia, Italy and the Balkans. Fennoscandian and C European populations connect to Italy and the Baltic during Jul – Sep and do not use the route via Iberia. 

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2022 . Beijing Cuckoo Project - accessed 09-02-2022. https://birdingbeijing.com/beijing-cuckoo-project/
Thorup, K., Vega, M.L., Snell, K.R.S., Lubkovskaia, R., Willemoes, M., Sjöberg, S., Sokolov, L.V., Bulyuk, V.2020 . Flying on their own wings: young and adult cuckoos respond similarly to long-distance displacement during migration. Scientific Reports 10 article no.: 7698 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64230-x)
Willemoes, M., Blas, J., Wikelski, M. Thorup, K.2016 . Flexible navigation response in common cuckoos Cuculus canorus displaced experimentally during migration. Scientific Reports 5 article no.: 16402 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16402)
Willemoes, M., Strandberg, R., Klaassen, R. H., Tøttrup, A. P., Vardanis, Y., Howey, P. W., ... & Alerstam, T2014 . Narrow-front loop migration in a population of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, as revealed by satellite telemetry. PloS one 9 article no.: e83515 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083515)

Back to Analysis