The monsoon is almost here, bringing with it not just refreshing rains, but also the much-anticipated calls of cuckoos across India. June is the best time to spot these birds, and you’ll likely hear their distinctive sounds whether you’re in a city or out in nature. From the large Himalayan Cuckoo to the familiar Common Hawk-Cuckoo, these vocal birds will be everywhere!
Get ready to participate in this month’s birding challenge: adding these crazy-calling cuckoos to your eBird list!
The challenge this month is to upload 25 eligible* checklists, with at least five of them containing a brood-parasitic cuckoo.
What birds are included in this list of brood-parasitic cuckoos? Here they are:
- Asian Koel
- Pied Cuckoo
- Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
- Large Hawk-cuckoo
- Common Hawk-cuckoo
- Hodgson’s Hawk-cuckoo
- Indian Cuckoo
- Eurasian Cuckoo
- Himalayan Cuckoo
- Lesser Cuckoo
- Banded Bay Cuckoo
- Plaintive Cuckoo
- Grey-bellied Cuckoo
- Asian Emerald Cuckoo
- Violet Cuckoo
- Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo
- Fork-tailed Drongo-cuckoo
* Eligible checklists are those that report ALL species seen/heard (and are therefore marked ‘complete’), includes counts for all species numbers (no ‘X’ entries) and are of at least 15 minutes or longer in duration.
Note: Although not part of this month’s challenge, we encourage you to add sounds, photos, and behavioural comments to your checklists.
If you are observing or documenting breeding birds, please make sure to use the appropriate breeding behaviour codes.
(Please note again: F and H are not valid breeding codes.)
When recording observations of breeding birds, please follow these best practices:
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Maintain a suitable distance from the birds.
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Avoid playback of bird calls.
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Be mindful of sensitive habitats, especially areas where birds are likely to nest.
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If you feel your observations may attract unwanted attention and disturb nesting birds, consider delaying the upload of your comments or photographs by a few weeks.
Please upload all your lists by 10 July 2025 so that we can announce the results soon after that.
Here are the general rules of our monthly challenges. And check out the yearlong challenges for 2025 as well! You can keep track of fresh lists coming in from India on this page.
Header Image: Violet Cuckoo Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus © Anand Ramesh / Macaulay Library
