Heard my first cuckoo today… well, about 3 of them… just now 9.15 and going dusky to dark…
I reckon they are a month later than usual…
so… have the cuckoos arrived chez vous ??? and if so… when…
I hope you has some money on your pocket Stella - when you heard the cuckoo!
‘‘le folklore raconte que si un promeneur a de l’argent en poche lorsqu’il entend le premier coucou de l’année, il sera riche l’année entière.’’
Sadly … no… which means, I suppose, that I am in for a tough year… 
Cuckoos always come first and then the Golden Orioles…
@anon87147852 what folkloristic words of wisdom do you have for me regarding that particular songster… 
LOL - sorry Stella I’ve exhausted my French folklore in that one post !! 
Well !! I’m very disappointed… shall sulk all evening now… 
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We have cuckoos and the nightingale has started to sing.
The hoopoes and swallows have returned as well.
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Both difficult to see.
The lovely fluting song of the golden oriole is so distinctive.
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I heard the first one today too
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Had cuckoos here for around 3 weeks now, one either side of the valley. I will listen out and try to identify a nightingale - never seen or heard a hoopoe or a golden oriole - yet.
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I’ve only seen the Golden Oriole twice… once, it actually flew alongside the car for a short while… we were going slowly, fortunately… and there’s me … telling OH to keep his eyes on the road while I simply stared at this beautiful but bizarre bird.
The second time, one was sitting in a tree and singing beautifully.
Even if I no longer see them, their singing echoes across the valley and, as you say, so distinctive… glorious.
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I love the GOs, the hoopoes have been busy here for a good 3 weeks but I haven’t yet heard a cuckoo.
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I arrived in Allier on the 9th and the coukoo was up and running
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First cuckoo here on March 28th, 8:58am, in the big oak by the house.
We were lucky enough to have 5 GO visit the garden at sunset 2 years ago, managed to get a photo of one of the males perched high in a birch tree. We often hear their song, but hardly ever actually see them.
We have only seen them twice.
The first time we were having lunch on the terrace and it flew across our field to a tree.
I had never seen one before, but it just had to be.
There is just one pair that nest in a valley just up the lane.
We live in the Clunysois and they ate not well known here.
This is from July 2017, at dusk.
They look just like two birds… one yellow… one black… pulled apart and then put back together… all wrong… 
I knew what I was seeing, as I have dozens of books which have been mentally devoured over the years… 
I was just glad to be able to get a picture of them, as at first I took them for some kind of strange woodpecker against the light, and the females arrived first. It was only when the male arrived to take his perch that I had confirmation of what they were - they had been singing in the evening and morning all around the woods near the house, so finally seeing them for real was a childhood wish come true ! I remember my first ornithology book being given to me when I was eight, and in it was a picture of one. Of course, no one explained me, and neither did the book, that these birds were in truth nowhere to be found in the British Isles. I could only ever dream of being able to catch a glimpse of one. Well, chalk one up for France, wish granted 
It still took more than 20 years though !
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Our family have been keen ornithologists… since before time began… and I have my own books plus those inherited over the years, from the dearly departed…
Some birds get imprinted on the brain… until you suddenly see them in the flesh (feathers)… and then, it is automatic… oh, yes, that’s a … XXXXX
the Nutcracker is another one… I’ve never seen it in UK… but recognized it straight away here, in France …
Just heard my first cuckoo this year. Alerted by my dog . So we had cuckoo, woof, cuckoo, woof.
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