African Cuckoo-Hawk - BirdForum Opus

Alternative Names: African Baza, African Cuckoo Falcon

Photo by George Koninis
Kruger National Park, South Africa, June 2014

Aviceda cuculoides

Identification

Photo © by whiteheadedvulture
Konkori, Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana, 7 April 2024

38–43 cm

• Brown head
• Black bill
• Bluish-grey throat
• Yellow legs
• Brown back
• Yellow eyes

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa. Breeds from Gambia and southern Senegal east to south-east Sudan, south-west Ethiopia and southern Kenya and south to southern Angola in the west and eastern South Africa in the east.

Mainly resident but a partial-migrant in the east and south. In coastal East Africa occurs mainly June-December.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Three or four subspecies recognised^[1]:

• The nominate race is found from Senegal to Nigeria and Ethiopia to northern Zaire.
• Darker and more heavily barred A. c. batesi from Sierra Leone to western Zaire.
• A. c. verreauxi, larger, with white bars on chestnut underwing, from Angola to Kenya and south to South Africa.

Birds from north-east Zaire are sometimes separated as A. c. emini^[2].

Habitat

Forest, woodland and secondary-growth, usually stays within dense cover except in display flight above forest.

Behaviour

Solitary and skulking.

Diet

The diet includes insects, especially grasshoppers, also small snakes, lizards, birds and rodents.

Breeding

Nesting takes place from September to February. Both adults build the platform nest of leafy twigs. The two chalky-white eggs have reddish-brown blotches and are incubated by both sexes or just the female, for 32-33 days. The young are fed by both parents and fledge after about a month.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2014)
4. Wikipedia
5. Planet of Birds

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) African Cuckoo-Hawk. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/African_Cuckoo-Hawk

External Links

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