What do cuckoos eat? Insects and caterpillars are their staple food

The cuckoo is a general term for birds in the family Cuculidae, and the familiar cuckoo bird is one of them. Most of them feed mainly on insects, and the largest share of their diet is the larvae of moths and butterflies, commonly known as caterpillars. In addition, beetles, locusts, scarab beetles and other agricultural and forestry pests also fall within their feeding range, and they occasionally eat a little fruit and seeds from plants.

The cuckoo's feeding habits are quite distinctive among birds. Many birds avoid caterpillars covered in bristles, but cuckoos can eat them without issue, giving them a good ability to control caterpillar pests such as pine caterpillars. Cuckoos active in forest areas and around farmland are often regarded as beneficial birds for agriculture and forestry, helping considerably to suppress pest outbreaks.

During the breeding season, most cuckoos do not build nests and incubate eggs themselves; instead, they lay their eggs in the nests of other small birds, which hatch and feed them on their behalf. The food for the chicks in their early stage comes from these foster parents, mainly various small insects and moth larvae, broadly consistent with the adult birds' diet.

If you find a cuckoo chick that has fallen from its nest in the wild, it is not advisable to keep and raise it yourself long-term. You can first feed it live small insects such as mealworms as an emergency measure, and contact your local wildlife rescue department as soon as possible. Cuckoos live on pests and are an important link in the ecological chain; protecting them benefits both forests and agricultural production.