A cuckoo visiting Japanese mountain forests, where the male’s loud call carries through the trees.
Belly bars are broader and less numerous than those of the Common Cuckoo.
A three-year study in central Honshu found that Lesser Cuckoos parasitized only Japanese Bush Warbler nests in the study area. Bush Warblers laid from mid-April through July, while cuckoos arrived in late May and began laying in early June. Across the full breeding season, 22% of warbler nests were parasitized; after cuckoo laying began, the proportion was 46%.
The cuckoo eggs were red-brown and resembled the host’s eggs, though they were larger. They incubated for about 14 days and hatched one to two days before the warbler eggs. Two filmed laying events lasted 18 and 19 seconds. Researchers checked nests every one to two days to record the breeding stages. Desertion was recorded at 19% of parasitized nests and 22% of nests without a cuckoo egg.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species-level assessment
The 2016 global IUCN Red List assessment classifies the Lesser Cuckoo as Least Concern (LC) and reports a stable population trend. The assessment covers the species globally.