Great Spotted Cuckoo \ Clamator glandarius

The Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius), is a large, long-tailed cuckoo with grey-brown upperparts, pale underparts, a slight crest, and white-tipped wing and tail feathers that create its spotted appearance. Juveniles look different, with a darker head and warm chestnut tones on the wings. It is an active, restless bird, often moving through scrub, woodland edges, farmland, and scattered trees, where it feeds mainly on caterpillars and other insects, sometimes also taking small reptiles. Like other cuckoos, it is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, especially crows and related species. It is globally listed as Least Concern.

In the UAE, the Great Spotted Cuckoo should be treated as a vagrant, not a regular resident or breeding bird. The official EBRC checklist lists only a small number of accepted records, including birds at Ain al-Fayda / Jebel Hafit, Wamm Farms, and Al Qua’a Fodder Field between 2008 and 2017. For a UAE species page, it is best presented as a rare migrant visitor, most likely to appear in green farms, fodder fields, scrubby areas, and wooded patches during passage.