Common cuckoo
CUCULUS CANORUS
The cuckoo is a medium-sized migratory bird with a long tail, yellow legs and sharp wing tips. A brown-grey cuckoo resembles a small hawk on the fly. The main food source is insects. A cuckoo is a parasitic breeder that nests other bird species. The species lays its every egg in a different nest and always in the nest of the species in which it has grown itself. The chick pushes other eggs and chicks out of the nest, thus capturing the entire nest and gaining the full attention of her foster parents.
Cuckoo occurs in all types of forests, cities and archipelago. The species breeds over a large area from Europe to eastern Asia. The cuckoo winters in tropical Africa and returns to Finland from April to May.
There are many beliefs about the cuckoo which known for its magnificent vocals and is found in folklore such as fairy tales and poems. Many people are also familiar with the German invention cuckoo clock.
The cuckoo is a common basic species of our forests, whose main habitat is the wooded area where its host species thrives.
Common cuckoo
CUCULUS CANORUS
wood | deadwood | stage of development | key biotopes |
---|---|---|---|
aspen | aspen | 1-5y | grove |
birch | birch | 6-20y | ridge |
pine | pine | 21-50y | rock |
spruce | spruce | 51-100y | spring |
other | other | stream | |
swamp |