Cuculus saturatus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The Himalayan cuckoo or Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus) is a brooding parasitic bird that is part of the Cuculidae family. The species breeds from the Himalayas eastward to southern China and Taiwan. It migrates to southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda Islands for the winter.
It was formerly known as "Oriental cuckoo" and contained several subspecies found over most of Asia. In 2005, it was determined that this "species" consists of three distinct lineages: Himalayan cuckoo, Cuculus (saturatus) saturatus
Oriental cuckoo proper, Cuculus (saturatus) optatus Sunda cuckoo, Cuculus (saturatus) lepidus These are usually seen as distinct species nowadays. As the type specimen of the former "Oriental" cuckoo is a bird of the Himalayan population, the name saturatus applies to the Himalayan cuckoo if it is considered a species.
With new information from a recent mtDNA study, it appears that the Himalayan cuckoo is most closely related to Cuculus canorus, creating a sister-clade with the two other species: C.gularis and C.rochii. The species C.optatus, previously named horsfieldi for Palearctic populations but was proven unsuitable, is considered a separate species because... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 3 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 5 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 6 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 7 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Cuckoo sighting in Langtang National Park on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 118th most-seen of the 225 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Cuckoo in Langtang National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and September–February, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Himalayan Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Himalayan Cuckoo sightings, Langtang National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan, about 20%).
Same genus: Cuculus
The closest relatives of the Himalayan Cuckoo that you can see in Langtang National Park (genus Cuculus, Typical Old World Cuckoos) are Large Hawk Cuckoo (about 20%), Common Cuckoo (about 10%) and Lesser Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Himalayan Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Langtang National Park (28 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
