Cuckoos

Klaas's Cuckoo

The cuckoos (Cuculidae) family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The cuckoos are generally medium-sized slender birds. Most species live in trees, though a sizeable minority are ground-dwelling. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Some species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.

I have split the birds photographed in its Genus where it belongs if there are at least 2 photographs. The genera with only 1 photograph are combined for now in Various

There are around 149 different species in this group of which I have photographed so far 47 different ones. In case of differences between male and female birds I have added both if available

Below you will find the genus in alphabetic order.

Click on one of the thumbnails below to see a bigger photograph.

Updated 14/03/2020

Genus Cacomantis. Cacomantis is a genus of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. Most of them have a round nostril and are mainly in brown and gray colors. The tails are graduated and barred. The bars are transverse in sonneratii and oblique in all others. The genus contains 10 species

Genus Centropus - Coucal. Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites, though they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are (to varying degrees) sex-role reversed so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care. The genus contains 30 species

Genus Chrysococcyx. Chrysococcyx is a genus of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. The genus contains 13 species

Genus Clamator. Clamator cuckoos are found in warmer parts of southern Europe and Asia, and in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. These are birds of warm open scrubby habitats, but some species are at least partially migratory, leaving for warmer and wetter areas in winter. The genus contains 4 species

Genus Coua. Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar. The genus contains 9 species

Genus Crotophaga - Ani. The Crotophaginae is a small subfamily, within the cuckoo family Cuculidae, of four gregarious bird species occurring in the Americas. They were previously classified as a family Crotophagidae.
The subfamily is notable for the development of cooperative breeding where several females lay eggs in a communal nest. It contains the three anis and the Guira cuckoo. The genus contains 4 species

Genus Cuculus. Cuculus is a genus of cuckoos that has representatives in most of the Old World, although the greatest diversity is in tropical southern and southeastern Asia. The genus contains 11 species

Genus Eudynamys. The true koels, Eudynamys, are a genus of cuckoos from Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. They are large sexually dimorphic cuckoos that eat fruits and insects and have loud distinctive calls. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species. The genus contains 3 species

Genus Phaenicophaeus. Malkohas are large birds in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. The group name is derived from the Sinhala word for the red-faced malkoha; mal-koha meaning flower-cuckoo. These are all Asian tropical species. The genus contains 9 species

Genus Various. All birds of this family with only one species photographed in a certain Genus

Bird Families of the World