Brush Cuckoo on a branch.
Photo: T Quested © T Quested
Distribution map of Cacomantis variolosus
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Brush Cuckoo
Scientific name: Cacomantis variolosus
Family: Cuculidae
Order: Cuculiformes
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What does it look like?
Description
The Brush Cuckoo male is grey-brown above, light grey to buff below, with a grey head, neck and breast. The tail has a white tip and is barred white underneath. The female has two colour morphs (forms): unbarred and barred. The unbarred morph is similar to the male but is much paler buff underneath, with faint grey barring across the chest. The barred morph is less common, and has streaked/barred upper parts and the underbody is darkly barred. Juvenile Brush Cuckoos are heavily barred dark brown above and mottled and barred underneath.
Similar species
The Brush Cuckoo is similar in shape to the Pallid Cuckoo, C. pallidus, but has more buff underparts. The Fan-tailed Cuckoo, C. flabelliformis, is more slate-grey on the back and has a yellow eye-ring and a longer, more fanned tail, while the Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, C. castaneiventris, has a rich chestnut colouring on the under body.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Brush Cuckoo is found across northern Australia from the Kimberley region to the east coast, down to Victoria. Also found in eastern Indonesia, including Timor and the Moluccas, New Guinea and to the Solomon Islands.
Habitat
The Brush Cuckoo is found in wooded habitats, including rainforest, wet sclerophyll forests, paperbarks, along waterways and in more open forests and woodlands. Sometimes found in gardens.
Seasonal movements
Partially migratory, with southern populations moving north in winter.
What does it do?
Feeding
The Brush Cuckoo eats insects, particularly hairy caterpillars. It usually forages high in the forest canopy but may sometimes feed on the ground.
Breeding
The Brush Cuckoo is a nest parasite, which means that it lays its eggs in other birds' nests. The most common hosts are: flycatchers, especially Rhipidura species, robins, fairy-wrens, gerygones and honeyeaters. In northern Australia the main hosts are: the Brown-backed and Bar-breasted Honeyeaters, while in southern Australia, the hosts are mainly the Grey Fantail, Scarlet Robin and Leaden Flycatcher. Only one egg is laid in a host's nest and the eggs tend to resemble closely the eggs of the chosen host in markings. The young cuckoo ejects any other eggs or young once it hatches. The host parents brood and feed the young cuckoo, sometimes for up to a month after it fledges.
Living with us
Living with humans
The Brush Cuckoo is not common in regrowth forests or in areas that are regularly burnt. It will be seen in gardens. Sometimes collides with lighthouses.
References
Higgins, P.J. (ed) 1999. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 4 (Parrots to Dollarbird). Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.