Oriental Cuckoo

Overview

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.

Range and Habitat

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

INTERESTING FACTS

The Oriental Cuckoo is also known as Horsfield's Cuckoo.
It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan Cuckoo but differences in voice and size suggest that it should be treated as a separate species.
The exact extent of its wintering range is uncertain due to its secretive habits and the difficulty of separating it from the Himalayan Cuckoo and other similar species.
A group of cuckoos are collectively known as a "cooch" and an "asylum" of cuckoos.

The Oriental Cuckoo has a gigantic range extending from Asia and Australia to Europe and even vagrant populations in the United States. The species is migratory and seasonal variations occur in populations. This bird can be found primarily in forested habitats, but also appears in shrublands as well. The global population of this bird is estimated to be around 500,000 to 1,000,000 individual birds. Currently, it is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Oriental Cuckoo have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.