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A Cuckoo sits on a perch in the rain in woodland on Thursley Common on May 28, 2017 in Thursley, England. The United Kingdom has seen a 71 percent decline in the breeding population of Cuckoos over the last 25 years. The fall in numbers is thought to be linked to the migration routes the birds take to get to their wintering grounds in the Congo Basin in West Africa. After a study of satellite tagged birds by the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology), between 2011 and 2014 it was thought that those traveling South East through Italy or the Balkans fared better than those taking the more direct route South West through Spain and Morocco despite being 12 percent longer. The environmental conditions at stop over sites are thought to be the main thing that determine the birds' migration success with drought and wildfires on the shorter routes having a negative effect. That pattern continues and the Cuckoo remains on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern, where it has been since 2009. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
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