The Common Cuckoo is a pronounced long-distance migrant and does not spend the winter in Sweden.
Early departure: the adult birds leave the country as early as July–August, long before most other migrants.
The young's journey: the juveniles fly south alone in September, without ever having seen their parents or been shown the way.
Wintering: the Common Cuckoo winters in Africa south of the Sahara, all the way down towards the Congo Basin and southern Africa.
Since the species is absent throughout the winter half of the year, the Common Cuckoo is heard and seen in Sweden only in early summer and a little way into autumn.