Australia (NB), Cambodia (P), China (mainland) (B) (P), Finland (B), Indonesia (NB) (P), Japan (B) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kyrgyzstan (B), Laos (P), Malaysia (P), Micronesia [Federated States of] (NB), Mongolia (B), Myanmar (P), New Zealand (NB), North Korea (B), Palau (NB), Papua New Guinea (NB), Philippines (NB), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B), Solomon Islands (NB), South Korea (B), Taiwan (China) (P), Tajikistan (B), Thailand (P), Vietnam (NB) (P).
Vagrant to USA.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) [XC624326]
by Swetlana Meshcheryagina from Mirnoye, Turukhansky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation (song, male-like vocalization)
Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) [XC486524]
by Stanislas Wroza from Bol'shaya Rechka, Irkutsky District, Irkutskaya oblast', Russian Federation (song)
Nest
None. Egg(s) laid in that of the foster parents. The most common species are Phylloscopus warblers.
Eggs (Guide)
1; white or pale brown, with very small black or purple spots; long-oval; about 21 x 14 mm. Incubation is carried out by the species whose nest has been parasitised.
Subspecies
Cuculus saturatus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Himalayan Cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus), Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) and Sunda Cuckoo (Cuculus lepidus) following Payne (2005).
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
optatus Gould, 1845 - Australia, coastal northern Australia from the Kimberley Divide in the west through the northern Top End, northern and eastern Qld, and northern NSW.
saturatus Hodgson, 1843 - Kashmir through southern Himalayas, Assam, northern and eastern Myanmar (including Shan States) and Thailand to southern China and Taiwan. Winters from Malaysia and Philippines south to Lesser Sundas, New Guinea and Australia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Himalayan Cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus).
lepidus Muller, 1845 - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Lesser Sundas, east to Timor. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Sunda Cuckoo (Cuculus lepidus).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9