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Oriental Cuckoo

Cuculus saturatusOrder: CUCULIFORMESFamily: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)
Oriental Cuckoo Breeding Male Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Curved (up or down)
  • Eye Color: Dark brown to brown-black.
  • Head Pattern: Plain
  • Crown Color: Gray
  • Forehead Color: Gray
  • Nape Color: Gray
  • Throat Color: Pale Gray
  • Cere color: No Data
Oriental Cuckoo Breeding Male Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 30-33 cm (12-13 in)
  • Weight: 116 g (4.1 oz)
  • Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
  • Color: Blue, Gray, Yellow
  • Underparts: White with dark gray barring.
  • Upperparts: Gray
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Striped or streaked
  • Breast Pattern: Striped or streaked
Oriental Cuckoo Breeding Male Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: While flying, keeps wings low, not raising them above the horizontal plane, with deep downstroke ending well below body.
  • Wingspan Range: 71 cm (28 in)
  • Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Rounded Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Spotted
  • Upper Tail: Dark Gray
  • Under Tail: Dark Gray
  • Leg Color: Yellow
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Family Roadrunners and Cuckoos (Cuculidae)
Species Cuculus saturatus
Length12 - 13 Inches
Wingspan28 Inches

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