Photo © by Mat & Cathy
Holmes Jungle Nature Park, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
31 March 2006
- Cacomantis variolosus
Includes: Australian Brush Cuckoo; Rusty-breasted Cuckoo; Sulawesi Brush Cuckoo; Sunda Brush Cuckoo
Identification
21–28 cm (8¼-11 cm) Male
- Grey-brown upperparts
- Light grey-buff underparts
- Grey head, neck and breast
- White tipped tail barred white underneath
Female: two colour morphs
- Unbarred morph
- Similar to male
- Paler buff underneath
- Pale grey barring across chest
- Barred morph - less common
- Streaked/barred upper parts
- Darkly barred underparts
Juvenile
- Heavily barred dark brown upperparts
- Mottled and barred underneath
Distribution
Photo © by Avian Seeker
Singapore, 2 September 2012
Taxonomy
This is a polytypic species[1]. Different authors raise various combinations of these to full species status (e.g. Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, Sulawesi, Sunda and Australian Brush Cuckoos).
Some authorities additionally include Moluccan Cuckoo in this species.
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
Photo © by Romy Ocon
Mount Makiling, Laguna Province, the Philippines, December 2004
- C. v. sepulcralis (Rusty-breasted Cuckoo wide sense or Sunda Brush Cuckoo): Southern Myanmar (Tenasserim) and Southern Thailand south through the Thai-Malay Peninsula, the Greater Sundas, the western Lesser Sumbas (east at least to Sumba and Flores), and the Philippines
- C. v. virescens (Rusty-breasted Cuckoo wide sense or Sulawesi Brush Cuckoo): Sulawesi, Butung, Tukangbesi and Banggai Islands
- C. v. everetti: Sulu Archipelago (Jolo, Basilan, Tawitawi and adjacent islands)
- C. v. major: Northern Moluccas (Morotai to Obi)
- C. v. tymbonomus (Australian Brush Cuckoo): eastern Lesser Sundas (Timor, and possibly east to Tanimbar Island
- C. v. infaustus (Australian Brush Cuckoo): New Guinea and most satellite islands
- C. v. obscuratus: Numfor (Cenderawasih Bay)
- C. v. variolosus (Australian Brush Cuckoo): Northern and eastern Australia; winters to Moluccas and New Guinea
- C. v. macrocercus: Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland and Tabar)
- C. v. websteri: New Hanover (Bismarck Archipelago)
- C. v. fortior: D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago
- C. v. addendus: Solomon Islands
- C. v. blandus: Admiralty Islands
Subspecies C. v. oreophilus is now considered a synonym of infaustus.
C. v. sepulcralis (Thailand, Indochina, Philippines, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java), with or without C. v. virescens (Sulawesi etc) is sometimes accepted as a full species, Rusty-breasted Cuckoo.
Alternatively, C. v. sepulcralis together with C. v. everetti may be split as Sunda Brush Cuckoo and C. v. virescens as Sulawesi Brush Cuckoo.
Subspecies infaustus, tymbonomus and variolosus may be treated as distinct Australian Brush Cuckoo.
Habitat
Coastal mangrove to montane mossy forest up to 2000m. Open woodlands and bushy gardens.
Behaviour
A secretive species.
Breeding
This is a brood parasite using a wide variety of nests as hosts, such as tailorbirds, sunbirds, fairywrens, honeyeaters and shrikes as host species.
They lay a single egg which varies in colour and design to match the host. Incubation takes about 13 days, the hatchling then ejects any other hatchling and eggs. It fledges after 17-19 days and is cared for by the adults for a further month.
Diet
Their main diet consists of caterpillars (both hairless and hairy), with the addition of grasshoppers, beetles, bugs, wasps, spiders and snails.
Gallery
Click on photo for larger image
Immature
Photo © by tcollins
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 12 July 2006
Juvenile
Photo © by Tom Tarrant
Samsonvale, Southeastern Queensland
12 February 2006
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Payne, R. B. (2020). Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.brucuc1.01
- Birds in Backyards
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Brush Cuckoo. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brush_Cuckoo
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
