What nests do cuckoo lay their eggs in?

The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a brood parasite, which means that it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. The female cuckoo selects the nest of a host species that is similar in size to her own, so that her egg will not be too large or too small for the host to incubate. The cuckoo then removes one of the host's eggs and replaces it with her own. The cuckoo egg is usually covered in a camouflage pattern that matches the host's eggs.

The host bird incubates the cuckoo egg along with its own eggs. When the cuckoo chick hatches, it pushes the other chicks out of the nest, often to their deaths. The cuckoo chick is then raised by the host bird as its own.

Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of a wide variety of bird species, including meadow pipits, reed buntings, dunnocks, and hedge sparrows.