Common cuckoo migration Cuculus canorus
Press ▶ to play the year. Glow: GBIF records per month, adjusted for observer effort. Lines: tracked individuals (Movebank).
| Scientific name | Cuculus canorus |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 58 cm |
| Adult weight | 117 g (male), 106 g (female) |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 1,365,662 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | 3 birds (Movebank) |
Facts from Wikidata Q18845 (CC0).
When does the common cuckoo arrive in the UK?
A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from mid April, are near their peak by late April, and fall away after late June.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 79,404 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
Migration in the data
1,365,662 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in July (about 55°N) and furthest south in January (about 0°S).
More than half of the effort-adjusted signal there is south of the Equator in: January, February, December.
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0°S | 71% |
| February | 11°N | 51% |
| March | 36°N | 10% |
| April | 44°N | 2% |
| May | 50°N | 0% |
| June | 54°N | 0% |
| July | 55°N | 0% |
| August | 51°N | 0% |
| September | 44°N | 0% |
| October | 22°N | 12% |
| November | 5°N | 45% |
| December | 1°N | 69% |
Tracked birds
- “PB143194”: 28 Jan 2016 – 26 Jan 2017, between 61°N and 19°S. Dataset: Thorup K, Vega ML, Snell KRS, Lubkovskaia R, Willemoes M, Sjöberg S, Sokolov LV, Bulyuk V (2020) Flying on their own wings: young and adult cuckoos respond similarly to long-distance displacement during migration. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64230-x https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.vk36vq82 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
- “PB143227”: 19 Aug 2015 – 7 Mar 2016, between 55°N and 16°S. Dataset: Thorup K, Vega ML, Snell KRS, Lubkovskaia R, Willemoes M, Sjöberg S, Sokolov LV, Bulyuk V (2020) Flying on their own wings: young and adult cuckoos respond similarly to long-distance displacement during migration. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64230-x https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.vk36vq82 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
- “PB143382”: 17 Aug 2017 – 20 Jan 2018, between 55°N and 9°S. Dataset: Thorup K, Vega ML, Snell KRS, Lubkovskaia R, Willemoes M, Sjöberg S, Sokolov LV, Bulyuk V (2020) Flying on their own wings: young and adult cuckoos respond similarly to long-distance displacement during migration. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64230-x https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.vk36vq82 (CC0 1.0 Universal)
Only the non-displaced (control) cuckoos of this experiment are shown.
About the common cuckoo
The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
From the Wikipedia article “Common cuckoo” (revision 1380574688), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=5231918&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (22 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.