Visual Search | Wizard | Browse

Bird name:

Oriental Cuckoo

Cuculus saturatusOrder: CUCULIFORMES Family: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)

Codes: Common Name: ORCU Scientific Name: CUCOPT ITIS Taxonomic No.: 177823

Breeding Location:

Forest

Breeding Type:

Promiscuous, Brood parasite

Breeding Population:

Accidental to casual

Egg Color:

White with dark red, gray brown or purple spots

Number of Eggs:

18 - 23

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Grasses, leaves.

Migration:

Migratory

General

Oriental Cuckoo: Medium-sized cuckoo with gray upperparts, gray throat, and distinctly barred breast. Wings and long tail are dark gray. Bill is decurved and yellow with dark tip. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Oriental Cuckoo: Native of Eurasia, but makes rare visits to the Pribilofs and western Aleutians. Usually found in forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Oriental Cuckoo: Eighteen to twenty-five white eggs with dark red, gray, brown, or purple spots are laid each season, singly placed in nests of host species. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the host.

Foraging and Feeding

Oriental Cuckoo: Eats insects, including fuzzy caterpillars; forages on the ground or in flight.

Vocalization

Oriental Cuckoo: Song is a muted "do-do-do-do."

Similar Species

Oriental Cuckoo: Common Cuckoo has paler gray upperparts, paler gray underparts, and lacks buff undertail coverts.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Oriental Cuckoo

Oriental Cuckoo: Medium-sized cuckoo with gray upperparts, gray throat, and distinctly barred breast. Wings and long tail are dark gray. Bill is decurved and yellow with dark tip. Feeds on caterpillars, insects and their larvae. Flies low to the ground, holds wings low during flight.

● Song: "do-do-do-do"

● Foraging & Feeding: Oriental Cuckoo: Eats insects, including fuzzy caterpillars; forages on the ground or in flight.

● Breeding & nesting: Oriental Cuckoo: Eighteen to twenty-five white eggs with dark red, gray, brown, or purple spots are laid each season, singly placed in nests of host species. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the host.

● Similar species: Oriental Cuckoo: Common Cuckoo has paler gray upperparts, paler gray underparts, and lacks buff undertail coverts.

Flight Pattern

While flying, keeps wings low, not raising them above the horizontal plane, with deep downstroke ending well below body.

Oriental Cuckoo Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Oriental Cuckoo: Native of Eurasia, but makes rare visits to the Pribilofs and western Aleutians. Usually found in forests.

^BreedingPromiscuous, Brood parasite

^PopulationAccidental to casual

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight4.1 Ounces

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Oriental Cuckoo

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Vocalization

Similar Species

Oriental Cuckoo

Flight Pattern