Tono Dam, Ghana
June 2011

The Great Spotted Cuckoo is distributed in southern Europe and north Africa around the Mediterranean and also in much of Africa south of the Sahara. The Mediterranean and South African populations are migratory travelling to tropical Africa during the winter months. There is a distribution map at Birdlife International.

It is a brood parasite and, in Ghana, it parasitises mainly Pied Crow Corvus albus and starlings.

Its calls include a loud kweeow kweeow kweeow and an excited kiu-ku-ku-ker both of which can be heard in the following recording with a Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus in the background.