Common cuckoo
Videos
Page
The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
Common cuckoo
Common cuckoo in flight
A Eurasian cuckoo (C. c. bakeri) from Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary in East Sikkim, India.
Cuckoo adult (top) mimics sparrowhawk, giving females time to lay eggs parasitically
Cuckoo
Videos
Page
Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes. 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 cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae, the other two being the turacos and the bustards. The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera.
Cuckoo
The chestnut-breasted malkoha is typical of the Phaenicophaeinae in having brightly coloured skin around the eye.
Some species, such as the Asian emerald cuckoo (Chrysococcyx maculatus) exhibit iridescent plumage.
The great lizard cuckoo is a large, insular cuckoo of the Caribbean.