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FAN-TAILED CUCKOO FACTS |
Description
The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a grey bird with reddish brown chest and pale belly. It has a yellow eye ring. The tail is edged with white marking giving the tail an almost serrated appearance. Young birds are brown above with paler finely barred pale underside. It is similar in appearance to the Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo (C. castaneiventris) which has richer chestnut breast and less conspicuous white markings on tail. Adults are also similar to the adult Brush cuckoo which is smaller, drabber in colour with grey eye ring and does not have a barred tail,
Size
24cm - 28cm
Habitat
forest, woodland, parks, gardens.
Food
feeds on insects and insect larvae such as caterpillars, diet also includes some fruit
Breeding
lays its eggs is the nest of other species such as wrens and thornbills. It lays a single egg in the host nest, and when the cuckoo chick hatches it pushes the other eggs and chicks out of the nest.
Range
found in much of eastern Australia from Cape York to Tasmania. Also found in southern parts of South Australia and south west corner of Western Australia. Overseas it is found in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and other islands in the region.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Cuculiformes | | Family: | Cuculidae | | Genus: | Cacomantis | | Species: | flabelliformis | | Common Name: | Fan-tailed Cuckoo |
Relatives in same Genus
Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo (C. castaneiventris)
Brush Cuckoo (C. variolosus)
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