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;
Pallid cuckoo 1801 as "Columba pallida" "pale pigeon". Sources differ in the genera placement of this species. It is commonly placed in "Cuculus", but genetic evidence and its song support its placement in "Cacomantis", with its closest relative the white-crowned cuckoo ("Cacomantis leucolophus"). As of 2013, ITIS still listed the genus as "Cuculus". "Pallid cuckoo" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Other common names include unadorned cuckoo, semitone-bird, scale-bird, and brain-fever bird—from its monotonous repetitive call. Characteristics of the appearance of the pallid cuckoo include: a dark bill, a dark eye with a gold eye-ring, a