Cuculus canorus
The cuckoo is known for its brood parasitism: the female lays its eggs in the nest of another bird species and has the host raise its chick. While looking for a suitable nest and moment, it may keep a ready-to-lay egg in its body for up to 24 hours. It lays only one egg in each nest. Cuckoos observed abroad during the breeding season have laid up to 30 eggs in total. Whether Estonian cuckoos are as capable, is yet to be researched.
The diet of the cuckoo includes hairy caterpillars, which are rejected by other animals. It also eats other invertebrates, such as insects and spiders. It seldom feeds on the ground because its short legs make it a poor walker.
The cuckoo is a migratory bird. Cuckoos nesting in Estonia probably spend their winters in the rainforests of central Africa. Their migration to that region begins as early as August, with neither the adults nor the young migrating in flocks, but individually.