African Cuckoo Cuculus gularis Scientific name definitions

32 cm; 110 g. Adult dark ashy-grey above; tail dark grey with blackish barring, white tip, outer feathers barred white; chin to breast ashy-grey, rest of underparts white with narrow black bars which tend to fade out on lower belly; eye-ring yellow, iris yellow, bill yellow with black tip. Female  sometimes slightly barred or rufous on throat or breast; no rufous morph. Juvenile greyer (not brown) than C. canorus, broader white spots in tail.

Senegal and Gambia E through N Nigeria to S Sudan, Eritrea, NW Somalia, and S to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and E South Africa. Mainly a non-breeding migrant in E Africa.

Intra-African migrant. Arrives with the rains, sings and breeds during rainy season, then disappears; no ringing recoveries to show details of seasonal dispersal. In Malawi, arrives Oct and departs by Apr; in Kenya, appears with the rains, present mainly Oct–May, but breeds by Aug; in Ghana and Togo, observed Jan–Aug or Sept, rarely Oct and Nov; in Nigeria and Gambia, observed in all seasons, though not throughout this period in any one locality. Exceptional vagrant to Prince Edward Is (2 Ausilio, E. and Zotier, R. (1989). Vagrant birds at îles Kerguelen, southern Indian Ocean. Cormorant. 17: 9–18. Close ).

Insects, mainly caterpillars  . Forages through foliage, and also takes food on ground.

African Cuckoo is a fairly common bird but inconspicuous except when calling. Once treated as conspecific with Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, its voice has been an important argument in treating it as a separate species.

Vocal Development

Little information. As a member of the Cuckoo family, vocalisations are considered to be innate, not learnt. Begging calls of a juvenile outside the nest consisted of rather harsh, hoarse screams (June, southern Chad, 3 Chappuis, C. (2000). African Bird Sounds. Birds of North, West and Central Africa. Société d’Études Ornithologiques de France, Paris. Close ), in this particular case clearly lower-pitched than homologous calls of Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus.

Vocal Array

Song. A stereotypical dove-like coo-coo, sounding less sonorous, more subdued than in Common Cuckoo C. canorus. Birds utter this vocalisation hardly opening their bill, but with clear inflation of the gular pouch and up-and-down movement of the head. Song can be confused with the two-note song of Common Hoopoe Upupa epops, but in the latter notes are given at a faster pace and less emphasized. This is by far the most heard vocalization of this species.

kwik-kwik-kwik. A bubbling fast series of some 20 short overslurred notes, said to be a female vocalisation. Very similar or possibly identical to the homologous call of Common Cuckoo C. canorus.

krek. A seldom heard harsh short call, given single or in series of 2‒3 notes (3 Chappuis, C. (2000). African Bird Sounds. Birds of North, West and Central Africa. Société d’Études Ornithologiques de France, Paris. Close ).

Other. During interaction or display, a double note "kek kik" was heard .

Geographic variation

Northern and southern populations seem to have a slightly different song (contra Payne 4 Payne, R. B. (1997). Family Cuculidae (cuckoos). In Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 4, (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott and J. Sargatal, Editors). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 508–607. Close ), coinciding with the allopatric breeding regions. In southern populations both notes of the song are near identical. In north-western populations, the second note of the song starts at a higher pitch and is descending, an opposite pattern compared to Common Cuckoo (PFB). Further analysis is needed, since taxonomically this seems to contradict the monotypic status of this species.

Phenology

Vocal activity largely coincides with the breeding season. In West Africa, song is mainly heard in the first half of the year, with local differences presumably linked to the rains (5 Dowsett-Lemaire, F., and R. J. Dowsett (2014). The Birds of Ghana: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press, Liège, Belgium. Close , 6 Anciaux, M.-R. (2000). Approche de la phénologie de la migration des migrateurs intra-africains de l'intérieur des terres du Sud-Benin (plateau d'Allada et sud de la dépression de la Lama). Alauda. 68(4): 311–320. Close ). In Kenya, song is heard in different months depending on location, covering most of the year but seemingly following the start of the rains (7 Zimmerman, D. A., D. A. Turner and D. J. Pearson. (1996). Birds of Kenya and northern Tanzania. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. Close ). In Zambia, song is heard in the second half of the year (8 Dowsett, R. J., D. R. Aspinwall, and F. Dowsett-Lemaire (2008). The Birds of Zambia. Tauraco Press & Aves, Liège, Belgium. Close ). Sound recordings of song from Cameroon in February and April may constitute vocalising birds prior or during their pre-breeding migration.

Daily Pattern of Vocalizing

Song can be heard at night or several hours before sunrise. Singing birds then continue into the dawn chorus. While activity typically diminishes afterwards, song can be heard any time of the day.

Places of Vocalizing

Song is given from a rather open perch, often at middle level of larger trees.

Sex Differences

The song is believed to be exclusively a male vocalization, while the kwik-kwik-kwik call is attributed to the female.

Social Content and Presumed Functions of Vocalizations

Song has a territorial function. Female kwik-kwik-kwik call has often been heard together with the male's song, suggesting the latter also serves for mate attraction, while the former has been associated with mating attempts (9 Chapin, J. P. (1939). The birds of the Belgian Congo. Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 75:1–632. Close ).

None documented.

Breeds in rains, Jan–Jun in coastal Ghana, Feb–Apr in Nigeria, Aug–Nov in Kenya, Sept–Dec in S Africa. Brood-parasitic: hosts in Senegal, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria include Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis) and Yellow-billed Shrike (Corvinella corvina), perhaps occasionally other species. Eggs  whitish with pale brown spots or rufous blotches, similar to drongo eggs; 25 mm ’ 18 mm. Nestling evicts host’s eggs and young; fledges in 20–23 days.