Warble UK
Cuckoo
Photo: Andy Morffew / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Birds / Cuckoos

Cuckoo

Cuculus canorus

Also known as Common cuckoo

Elusive Summer visitor WoodlandFarmlandHeathWetlandUplands
Test yourself

Recording: Benoît Van Hecke / xeno-canto

Sounds like

The male's soft, far-carrying 'cuck-oo', the second note lower, repeated again and again. The female has a bubbling, chuckling call.

Remember it

It says its name. Once heard everywhere in spring, now scarce, so a cuckoo calling is a treat.

When and where

Listening for the cuckoo

Heard
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Apr to Jun
Time of day
Dawn and Day
Where
Woodland, Farmland, Heath, Wetland, Uplands
In Britain
Summer visitor
Family
Cuckoos

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Cuckoo

Cuckoo

Cuculus canorus
JFMAMJJASOND

It says its name. Once heard everywhere in spring, now scarce, so a cuckoo calling is a treat.

Wood Pigeon

Wood Pigeon

Columba palumbus
JFMAMJJASOND

'My toe bleeds, Betty': five beats, with the stress on the second.

Could you pick out a cuckoo?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in woodland

See all
Blackbird

Blackbird

Turdus merula
JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus
JFMAMJJASOND

Two or three thin, high notes followed by a fast, shimmering trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsuhuhuhu'.

Carrion Crow

Carrion Crow

Corvus corone
JFMAMJJASOND

A harsh, hoarse 'kraa-kraa-kraa', usually three or four calls in a row from a treetop, rooftop or aerial, each one flat and croaky.

Dunnock

Dunnock

Prunella modularis
JFMAMJJASOND

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.