#1198 · 🐦 birds

Oriental Cuckoo

🇳🇱 Boskoekoek ·Cuculus optatus

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Анна Голубева · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
2. © Bruno Durand · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Игорь Васильевич Фадеев · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Анна Голубева · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
5. © Tatsutomo Chin · CC BY 4.0
6. Онгудайский р-н, Респ. Алтай, Россия:© Анна Голубева · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
7. St Paul, AK, USA:© Pål A. Olsvik · CC BY 4.0
8. Бодайбо, Иркутская обл., Россия, 666901:© Лида Онищенко · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Hyperion Place, Willow Vale, QLD, AU:© petersimple · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. 台灣南投縣魚池:© Hong · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The Oriental cuckoo or Horsfields cuckoo ( Cuculus optatus ) is a bird belonging to the genus Cuculus in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan cuckoo ( C. saturatus ) with the name Oriental cuckoo used for the combined species. Differences in voice and size suggest that they should be treated as a separate species. The binomial name Cuculus horsfieldi has often been used instead of Cuculus optatus but is now usually...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 1,754iNaturalist observations
weight 99 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
1,754 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 99 g.
Scientifically named by John Gould in 1845 (181 years ago).