Family Cuckoos (Cuculidae)
Least Concern
Madagascar Coucal (Centropus toulou)
Taxonomy
French: Coucal toulou German: Tulukuckuck Spanish: Cucal malgache
Other common names:
Malagasy Coucal,
Madagascar Black Coucal
Taxonomy:
Cuculus Toulou
Statius Müller
, 1776,Madagascar
.
Subspecies and Distribution
C. t. toulou
(Statius Müller, 1776) – Madagascar.
C. t. insularis
Ridgway, 1894 – Aldabra; formerly also Assumption I (S of Aldabra), where now extinct.
Descriptive notes
40–46 cm; male 139 g, female 189 g (toulou), male 117 g, female 131 g (insularis). Adult black, but for unbarred rufous-chestnut middle and lower back... read more
Voice
Muffled “toogoo toogoo toogoo...”, decreasing in volume, duets; a “water-bottle... read more
Habitat
Dense vegetation or underbrush in forest, primary forest, recent clearings, second growth,... read more
Food and feeding
Invertebrates, large insects (beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars), spiders, lizards, rats, chicks and eggs. Feeds on ground, in thick... read more
Breeding
Adults in breeding plumage Jul–Sept; nesting records Sept–Mar. Nest a large domed sphere, woven from dry grass, 1–4 m... read more
Movements
Resident.
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Widespread and fairly common in Madagascar, except on the denuded central plateau; estimated population of several hundred birds in Aldabra Is, where... read more
Molecular data indicate that this species is sister to C. goliath#R. Sometimes regarded as conspecific with C. grillii, but voices of the two differ; in the past was occasionally considered to include C. bengalensis. Extinct population of Assumption I (Aldabra Group) sometimes awarded separate race †assumptionis. Two subspecies normally recognized.