Cuculus saturatus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Cuckoo sighting in Manas National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 299th most-seen of the 377 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Cuckoo in Manas National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to March, 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.
3rd of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Himalayan Cuckoo sightings, Manas National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Royal Manas National Park (Bhutan, about 20%) and Langtang National Park (Nepal, about 10%).
Same genus: Cuculus
The closest relatives of the Himalayan Cuckoo that you can see in Manas National Park (genus Cuculus, Typical Old World Cuckoos) are Common Hawk-Cuckoo (about 20%) and Indian 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 Manas National Park (21 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.
