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Common Cuckoos Used Host Activity to Find Concealed Daurian Redstart Nests

Common cuckoo perched on a branch in Koottanad, Kerala, India
Research · Behaviour

Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) used the activity of Daurian redstarts (Phoenicurus auroreus) to locate concealed host nests in south-western China, according to a study available online on 20 January 2026. The researchers combined monitoring from 2018 to 2025 with a nestbox experiment in the Liuzhi area of Guizhou.

Across 681 redstart nesting attempts, the team recorded 32 cuckoo nest-selection events. In 28 of them a cuckoo laid an egg; in four others a host egg was removed without a cuckoo egg being laid. The 32 events therefore represent a broader measure of cuckoo nest selection, not 32 completed laying events. Neither indoor versus outdoor nesting nor nesting on houses versus elsewhere had a clear effect on this selection pattern.

Host activity strongly guided cuckoo nest finding

The nestbox experiment showed a much stronger link with host activity. Of 797 boxes deployed from 2019 to 2023 and again in 2025, redstarts occupied 51 and Oriental magpie-robins (Copsychus saularis) occupied 103. Common cuckoos parasitised 19.6% of boxes used by redstarts compared with 0.97% of those used by magpie-robins. Based on egg phenotype, the authors concluded that the cuckoo lineage specialising on redstarts parasitised only boxes with active redstart attendance.

Examples from the study of common cuckoo parasitism of Daurian redstart nests in natural and human-made sites
Examples of common cuckoo parasitism of Daurian redstart nests at different sites in the study, including a natural cave, road-sign structure, artificial nestbox, chimney cavity, inactive vehicle, indoor sites and an old beehive. Figure 2 from Zhong et al. (2026), Avian Research, CC BY 4.0; panel H image by Chenxi Jia.

Nest exposure also increased parasitism

More exposed nestboxes were also parasitised more often than natural nests. The researchers documented cuckoo parasitism in a wide range of redstart nesting sites, including artificial nestboxes, buildings, an inactive vehicle and an old beehive. They describe the observations as the first evidence of common cuckoo parasitism of a human-associated host nesting indoors and conclude that host activity provides a key cue for locating otherwise concealed nests.

Sources and image credit

  1. Zhong, G., Wan, G., Wang, L., & Liang, W. (2026). Precisely targeting host activity for parasitism by Common Cuckoos. Avian Research, 17, 100344.Primary open-access peer-reviewed article. The published article states Available online 20 January 2026. CC BY 4.0.

Image: Shino Jacob Koottanad — common cuckoo in Koottanad, Palakkad, Kerala, India, 16 November 2025; representative species image, not one of the cuckoos or nests monitored in the Guizhou study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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