Pheasant Coucal Centropus phasianinus Scientific name definitions

Taxonomic note: Lump. This account is a combination of multiple species accounts originally published in HBW Alive. That content has been combined and labeled here at the subspecies level. Moving forward we will create a more unified account for this parent taxon. Please consider contributing your expertise to update this account.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

60 cm. Adult black, feather shafts glossy black , long tail glossed green, iris red, bill black, feet black. Female larger. Juvenile barred dark brown and buff, bill reddish brown, iris reddish brown.

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

53–80 cm; in N New Guinea male 205 g and female 300 g, in Australia male 337 g and female 495 g. Long-tailed pheasant-like bird. Adult male all black  , streaked and barred brown above, wing  with inner webs rufous, outer webs barred buff, black and rufous-brown; iris red, bill black, feet blackish. Female larger, iris orange to yellow. Non-breeding plumage (Australia) rufous above  with straw-coloured streaks, head  and underparts buff; iris pale brown (female whitish), bill pale horn. Juvenile more fawn, paler below, iris brown, bill brown to pale below. Race <em>nigricans</em> has yellowish underwing bars narrower than black bars; propinquus similar, but smaller; thierfelderi has rufous bars on underwing as wide as or wider than black bars; <em>melanurus</em> larger than phasianinus, wider black bars on rectrices ; <em>mui</em> extensively white.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Kai Is, in SE Moluccas.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Arthropods, especially insects  (grasshoppers  , stink-bugs, mantids  , stick insects, caterpillars), Sesarma mangrove mud crabs, snails; frogs, lizards, nestling birds, small mammals including rodents and bandicoots. Skulking, spends much time on ground, clambers in thick vegetation; searches for food by walking in low dense vegetation and ground cover, then runs down its prey.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Dull booming series of “hooh” notes  , falling and then rising in pitch, “coo-coo-coo-coo-coo-coo-coo-coocal”, accelerates in tempo; often duets; also harsh scolding calls  , and a hiss in alarm.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

In Australia, breeds Sept–May in Queensland, Nov–Mar in Kimberley Division, Dec–Apr in Northern Territory. Nest a covered mass of grass, lined with leaves, open at either end; begun as platform, then blades and stems drawn together to form a cover, then nest-lining added, sometimes with an extension tube; in tussock near ground. Eggs  3–5 (2–7), white, stained brown; 38 x 29 mm; incubation 15 days, by both sexes, starts with first egg, green leafy twigs added through period. Nestling  black with long white hair-like down  , mouth red, tongue red with black tip; fed by both sexes, eyes open at 7 days, may then leave nest if disturbed, short-tailed young seen carried by feet of parent in flight; fledging normally 17 days (hand-reared bird), young do not return to nest, hair-like down disappears within a week of fledging; independent at 40 days. Female may lay several clutches in a season.

Pheasant Coucal (Kai)

Pheasant Coucal (Pheasant)

Not globally threatened. Common near the coast, uncommon in semi-arid areas, scarce in arid zone. This species has become uncommon in Pilbara Region, Western Australia, where earlier it was moderately common. Population density in woodland of S New Guinea calculated at c. 0·1 bird/ha.