Oriental cuckoo
Cuculus optatus Gould, 1845
Status not recordedbirds
The oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) is a species in the family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes. Recorded adults weigh 77 g to 98.1 g.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the oriental cuckoo
- Weight
- 77 g – 98.1 g
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the oriental cuckoo live?
Not recorded
Is the oriental cuckoo endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the oriental cuckoo classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCuculiformes
- familyCuculidae
- genusCuculus
- SpeciesCuculus optatus Gould, 1845
Synonyms Cuculus horsfieldi, Cuculus horsfieldi horsfieldi, Cuculus optatus belli, Cuculus optatus optatus, Cuculus saturatus horsfieldi, Cuculus saturatus optatus, Cuculus waigoui, Versiculus horsfieldi
Other names and names in other languages (52)
- Horsfield's cuckooEnglish
- وقواق شرقيArabic
- Източна кукувицаBulgarian
- Koukoug an taigaBreton
- cucut de HorsfieldCatalan
- Тухӑҫ куккукӗChuvash
- kukačka eurasijskáCzech
- OrientgøgDanish
- HopfkuckuckGerman
- orienta kukoloEsperanto
- Cuco de HorsfieldSpanish
- taigakäguEstonian
- کوکوی شرقیPersian
- idänkäkiFinnish
- Coucou orientalFrench
- Cuach HorsfieldIrish
- Cooag HorsfieldManx
- קוקיה מזרחיתHebrew
- Kangkok rantingIndonesian
- Cuculo orientaleItalian
- ツツドリJapanese
- Меңіреу көкекKazakh
- 벙어리뻐꾸기Korean
- azijinė gegutėLithuanian
- mēmā dzeguzeLatvian
- orientgjøkNorwegian Bokmål
- BoskoekoekDutch
- taigagjøkNorwegian
- CharmudrengesPalauan
- kukułka syberyjskaPolish
- cuco-orientalPortuguese
- Глухая кукушкаRussian
- kukučka východnáSlovak
- Istočnoazijska kukavicaSerbian
- tajgagökSwedish
- นกคัคคูตะวันออกThai
- Doğu guguğuTurkish
- зозуля сибірськаUkrainian
- 筒鳥Chinese
- وقواق مشرقيArabic
- kukačka HorsfieldovaCzech
- Orient-gøgDanish
- HorsfieldkuckuckGerman
- cuco-de-horsfieldPortuguese
- Одноголосая кукушкаRussian
- orientalisk gökSwedish
- taigagökSwedish
- Horsfield GuguğuTurkish
- 东方中杜鹃Chinese
- 中杜鵑Chinese
- 北方中杜鵑Chinese
- 北方中杜鵑〔遠東中杜鵑〕Chinese
Relatives of the oriental cuckoo
Other species in the same genus Cuculus.

Common cuckoo
Cuculus canorus

Lesser cuckoo
Cuculus poliocephalus

Himalayan cuckoo
Cuculus saturatus

Indian cuckoo
Cuculus micropterus

African cuckoo
Cuculus gularis

Black cuckoo
Cuculus clamosus
CompareOriental cuckoo vs Common cuckooOriental cuckoo vs Lesser cuckooOriental cuckoo vs Himalayan cuckooOriental cuckoo vs Indian cuckoo
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the oriental cuckoo?
An adult oriental cuckoo weighs 77 g – 98.1 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the oriental cuckoo?
The oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) belongs to the family Cuculidae in the order Cuculiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-cuckoo
“Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-cuckoo.
@misc{oriental_cuckoo_2026,
title = {Oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/oriental-cuckoo},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}