American cuckoo

The **American cuckoo** (*Cuculus americanum*) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. The American cuckoo originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the rainforests, wetlands, forests, and open woodlands across North America to help boost biodiversity. The closest living relative of the American cuckoo is the common cuckoo (*Cuculus canorus*) of Africa and Eurasia. The American cuckoo is 32–34 centimetres (13–13 in) long from bill to tail (with a tail of 13–15 centimetres (5.1–5.9 in) and a wingspan of 55–60 centimetres (22–24 in). The legs are short. It has a greyish, slender body and long tail, similar to a sparrowhawk in flight, where the wingbeats are regular. During the breeding season, American cuckoos often settle on an open perch with drooped wings and raised tail. There is a rufous colour morph, which occurs occasionally in adult females but more often in juveniles. All adult males are slate-grey; the grey throat extends well down the bird's breast with a sharp demarcation to the barred underparts. The iris, orbital ring, the base of the bill and feet are yellow. Grey adult females have a pinkish-buff or buff background to the barring and neck sides, and sometimes small rufous spots on the median and greater coverts and the outer webs of the secondary feathers. Rufous morph adult females have reddish-brown upperparts with dark grey or black bars. The black upperpart bars are narrower than the rufous bars, as opposed to rufous juvenile birds, where the black bars are broader. The male's song, goo-ko, is usually given from an open perch. During the breeding season the male typically gives this vocalisation with intervals of 1–1.5 seconds, in groups of 10–20 with a rest of a few seconds between groups. The female has a loud bubbling call. The song starts as a descending minor third early in the year in April, and the interval gets wider, through a major third to a fourth as the season progresses, and in June the cuckoo "forgets its tune" and may make other calls such as ascending intervals. The wings are drooped when calling intensely and when in the vicinity of a potential female, the male often wags its tail from side to side or the body may pivot from side to side. The American cuckoo's diet consists primarily of insects. The American cuckoo also occasionally eats eggs and chicks of other bird species. The American cuckoo is an obligate brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Hatched cuckoo chicks may push out host eggs out of the nest or be raised alongside the host's chicks. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season. American cuckoos first breed at the age of two years. The birds' nests it usually parasitises includes house sparrows, Eurasian tree sparrows, common starlings, oak pigeons, rock doves, North American toucans, North American aracaris, North American lesser hornbills, and North American great hornbills. The conservation status of the American cuckoo is **Least Concern** due to successful conservation efforts, the American cuckoo's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.