Skip to content
Bioestrecho
Menu

Your portal

My list
Sign in

Species › Birds

Common Cuckoo

Cuculus canorus

Order
Cuculiformes
Family
Cuculidae
Presence in the Strait
Seasonal
Abundance
abundant
Protection in Spain
Special protection (List)
In Spanish
Cuco común

44% of its open observations in the area are from April.

Photograph: simply_antastic, CC0, vía iNaturalist

Length
32–34 cm
Wingspan
55–65 cm
Weight
115 g
020406080LENGTH32–34 cmWINGSPAN55–65 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Abundant summer visitor to forests and scrub.

Identification

Medium-sized with short legs, slender body with long tail and pointed wings that rules out Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Males are overall grey except for sharp border below against finely dark-barred white belly. Females are variable, including a rare rufous form. Juveniles are all barred from throat to belly with a white nape patch. Adults parasitise smaller species. The chick develops by itself after having expelled the chicks or eggs from the nest. It has very reserved habits and its well-known call «cuc-cuu» helps in revealing its presence.

Movements

More conspicuous prenuptial migration than postnuptial migration because Central European birds tend to migrate to the Eastern Mediterranean. Peaks in 1st hf. April and 1st hf. August. Cuculidae juv. Críalo Europeo ad. ad. Cuco Común ad.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.