Common Cuckoo

The common cuckoo is 32–34 cm long from bill to tail, with a tail of 13–15 cm and a wingspan of 55–60 cm. It has a greyish, slender body and long tail and looks like a sparrowhawk in flight. The iris, orbital ring, base of the bill and feet are yellow. The male's song, goo-ko, is usually given from an open perch, where the bird often sits with drooped wings and raised tail, and the female has a loud bubbling call (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, particularly dunnocks, meadow pipits and reed warblers, and the eggs in each host's nest resemble the host's eggs, though larger. It also occasionally eats eggs and chicks. The world population is estimated at 25–100 million. The cached account concentrates on Europe (Wikipedia, general species account).