Review: Cuckoos of the World

Cuckoos of the World (Helm Identification Guides) covers all 144 species of birds in the family Cuculidae. This includes not only those with “cuckoo” in their name but also the malkohas, couas, coucals, roadrunners, anis, and others.

The U.S. has six somewhat common cuckoos: Black-billed, Yellow-billed, and Mangrove Cuckoos, Groove-billed and Smooth-billed Anis and Greater Roadrunner and two rare vagrants, Common and Oriental Cuckoos.

So the majority of the birds covered in this tome will be new to birders in North America (including me) but nonetheless are intriguing to look at and read about.

There are 36 color plates of illustrations that accompany the text.

Each species has detailed information that covers field identification, voice, description, molt, distribution, habitat, behavior, breeding, food, status, and conservation.

Within the text are over 600 large, gorgeous photographs of cuckoos as well as range maps for each species.

Cuckoos have always been an intriguing group of birds and Cuckoos of the World (Helm Identification Guides) is the authority on learning about this bird family.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

We received a copy of this book from the publisher to review on Birdfreak.com. The links are to our Amazon Affiliate account.