Common cuckoo of two years. More than 100 host species have been recorded: meadow pipit, dunnock and Eurasian reed warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; garden warbler, meadow pipit, pied wagtail and European robin in central Europe; brambling and common redstart in Finland; and great reed warbler in Hungary. Female common cuckoos are divided into gentes – groups of females favouring a particular host species' nest and laying eggs that match those of that species in color and pattern. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA analyses suggest that each gene may have multiple independent origins due to parasitism of specific hosts
European Bird Census Council Census News", which has been running since 1987. European Bird Census Council The European Bird Census Council (EBCC) is an ornithological organisation which studies the population, distribution and demographics of European birds in order to inform conservation and management efforts. The organisation is headquartered in the Netherlands, and has active members in over 40 countries. The EBCC was founded in 1992, following the merger of two ornithological organisations, the European Ornithological Atlas Committee and the International Bird Census Committee. The EBCC is responsible for the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS), which aims to collect data from national bird monitoring