- Centropus burchellii
Identification
White underparts and throat, rufous brown upperparts, black head and nape, long dark grey tail, dark eye, dark hooked bill.
Distribution
Eastern Tanzania through Malawi, and southern Zambia to northern Botswana as well as to Mozambique, southern Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana and South Africa.
Taxonomy
Burchell's Coucal was formerly considered a subspecies of White-browed Coucal.
Subspecies
Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- C. b. fasciipygialis: eastern Tanzania to eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique
- C. b. burchellii: southern Malawi, southern Zambia, southern Zimbabwe, eastern Botswana, and South Africa
Habitat
Thickets, reedbeds. coastal bush, borders between woodland and grassland, and near vleis.
Behaviour
The diet includes small animals and insects, some birds, reptiles and amphibians.
The male builds a cup nest from grass and leaves placed in a large grass tuft, reedbed, thicket, creeper, bush, hedge or thorny tree. 2-5 eggs are laid, at 1, less often 2 day intervals. The male incubates the eggs for 15-16 days. The young fledge at about 21 days.
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, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Biodiversity explorer
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Burchell's Coucal. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Burchell%27s_Coucal
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
