Common cuckoo Common cuckoo The common cuckoo ("Cuculus canorus") is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, "Cuculiformes", which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of dunnocks, meadow pipits, and reed warblers. Although its eggs are larger than those of its hosts, the eggs in each type of host nest resemble the host's eggs. The adult too is a mimic, in its case of the sparrowhawk;
Thick-billed cuckoo helmetshrike, the thick-billed cuckoo has caused probably the most dramatic reduction in nesting success by any brood parasitic bird, with one group of helmetshrikes unable to rear any of their own nestlings for five years and ten breeding attempts, with overall between 35 and 55 percent of nests parasitised. It is almost certain that the extinct Malagasy subspecies parasitised vangas, which are related to the helmetshrikes. This species’ parasitism of the helmetshrikes may complement the similarly sized black cuckoo which exclusively parasitises bush shrikes. Thick-billed cuckoo The thick-billed cuckoo ("Pachycoccyx audeberti") is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.