Common cuckoo

Key identifying features

1. 1

   Recalls a sparrowhawk with grey upperparts and barred white underparts, but the bill is thin and straight and the feet are weak, lacking the hawk's hooked bill and thick talons

2. 2

   Flies with pointed wings beaten below body level, never raised above the back

3. 3

   Long graduated dark tail with rows of white spots along the tips and edges

4. 4

   Yellow eye-ring and feet; the grey breast ends abruptly against the finely barred belly

5. 5

   The male's two-note gu-cuck carries for kilometres, while the female gives a bubbling trill instead

Bird