Cuckoos feed on insects, including hairy caterpillars that are distasteful to most birds.
It is a 'brood parasite', laying its eggs singly, at intervals of about 48 hours, in the nests of small insectivorous birds. As soon as the young cuckoo hatches, it ejects all other young birds or eggs from the nest and is tended by its 'foster parents' until fledging. American species of cuckoo hatch and rear their own young. The North American roadrunner Geococcyx californianus is a member of the cuckoo family, and the yellow-billed cuckoo, Coccysus americanus , incubates its own eggs.