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Black-eared Cuckoo

Did you know?

The Black-eared Cuckoo, like the Pallid Cuckoo, eats hairy caterpillars, which are disliked by most other birds.

Calls
The Black-eared Cuckoo is usually quiet, but in the breeding season the male calls to attract a female. The call is a piercing, drawn-out, slightly descending whistle repeated at regular intervals.
Facts and Figures
Research Species: 
No
Minimum Size: 
19cm
Maximum Size: 
21cm
Average size: 
20cm
Average weight: 
30g
Breeding season: 
March to July inland, from June to October in the west, and from August to December in the east.
Clutch Size: 
One
Nestling Period: 
20 days
Conservation Status
Federal: 
Secure
NT: 
Secure
QLD: 
Secure
SA: 
Secure
TAS: 
Not present
VIC: 
Secure
WA: 
Secure
Basic Information
Scientific Name: 
Chalcites osculans
Atlas Number: 
341
What does it look like?
Description: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is brown-grey on the head, neck and back, with a faint olive-bronze metallic sheen on the saddle of the back. The rump is pale, and the underparts are creamy-buff without the barring that is so distinctive on the other bronze-cuckoos, except on the outer feathers of the tail. The face is creamy-white, with a white eyebrow widening towards the neck, and below that an obvious black eye-stripe. The juvenile is like the adult, but paler.

Similar species: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is similar to the juvenile Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo, Chrysococcyx basalis, but the Black-eared Cuckoo is larger, has no rufous on the tail, and has a broader black eye -stripe.

Where does it live?
Distribution: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is widespread on mainland Australia, but avoids the wet, heavily forested areas on the east coast and the south-west corner of Western Australia. It is an occasional vagrant to offshore islands and Tasmania.

Habitat: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is found in drier country where species such as mulga and mallee form open woodlands and shrublands. It is often found in vegetation along creek beds.

Seasonal movements: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is common across northern Australia. It is migratory, moving into the sub-coastal areas of south-east and south-west Australia for the summer.

What does it do?
Feeding: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo perches on a shrub or tree, and drops from its perch to forage for insects on the ground.

Breeding: 

The Black-eared Cuckoo is a parasitic breeder, that is, it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. By preference, the Black-eared Cuckoo chooses the domed or enclosed nests of species such as the Speckled Warbler, Chthonicola sagittata, or the Redthroat,

References: 
Field guide to Australian Birds.
Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes.
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