It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kenya, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

It has been celebrated by numerous waka poets since the anthology Kokin wakashū (920).

[2] Sei Shōnagon in her essay The Pillow Book (1002) mentions a trip she and other courtiers mounted on just to hear this bird, and it was expected of them that they would compose poetry on the occasion.

[7] In Chinese, dùjuān is a generic name and the species' common name is xiāodùjuān (小杜鵑).

[7] In Korean literature, the song of the lesser cuckoo represents the sound of sadness.