Channel-billed cuckoo

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Channel-billed cuckoo
Channel-billed cuckoo in a fig tree

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order:
Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Genus: Scythrops
Latham, 1790
Species:
S. novaehollandiae
Binomial name
Scythrops novaehollandiae
Latham, 1790
Synonyms[2]

Scythrops psittaceus Kerr, R. 1792
Scythrops australasiae Shaw, 1812
Scythrops australis Swainson, 1837
Cuculus praesagus Bonaparte, 1850

The channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) is a species of

brood parasite in the world, and the largest cuckoo.[4]

It is found in

IUCN
.

Taxonomy

Captain Arthur Phillip wrote of this (at the time) mysterious bird—calling it the 'psittaceous hornbill'—in his 1789 work The voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay, consulting with ornithologist John Latham and deliberating that it had features of a parrot, hornbill or toucan, though conceding there were no toucans in the region.[5] He gave it the name Scythrops novaehollandiae in 1790.[6][3] Its generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek skuthro-/σκυθρο- 'angry' or 'sullen', and ops/ωψ 'face', 'eye' or 'countenance'.[7] The specific epithet novaehollandiae means of New Holland, hence Australian.[8] John White, the surgeon-general of the First Fleet to New South Wales, wrote A Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales in 1790, including this bird, which he termed 'anomalous hornbill".[9]

Three

Moluccas, Scythrops novaehollandiae fordi in Sulawesi, and Scythrops novaehollandiae schoddei in the Bismarck Archipelago.[11]

The

Pacific islands, according to Sorenson and Payne (2005).[12]

"Channel-billed cuckoo" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).[10] Latham gave it the name "channel-bill" after a groove in its upper mandible [8]

Description

The world's largest cuckoo, the channel-billed cuckoo measures between 56–70 cm (22–28 in) long, with a 88–107 cm (35–42 in) wingspan, and weighing between 560–935 g (1.235–2.061 lb).[13] 24 adults were found to have averaged 684 g (1.508 lb) in body mass.[14] According to a manual on avian body masses, another species of cuckoo, the buff-headed coucal, may have a mean body mass some 11% higher than the channel-billed cuckoo.[14] The bill is bi-coloured, with a grey base becoming straw-coloured at the tip. The bill is large slightly curved and reminiscent of the bills of hornbills; in fact, the bird is sometimes erroneously referred to as a hornbill.[15] The plumage of the adult is pale grey on the head, chest, belly and back, becoming paler and barred lower down on the belly. The wings are darker grey with dark tips on the feathers. The tail is dark grey on top and barred underneath with a black band and white tip at the end. The feet and legs are black, and the eye is surrounded by prominent red skin. While most other very large cuckoos are rather terrestrial (i.e. roadrunners or the genus Neomorphus), the channel-billed cuckoo is fairly arboreal and is capable both in trees and on the ground.[16] The channel-billed cuckoo is a strong flier, with a distinctive, almost hawk-like cross-shaped (cruciform) flight silhouette.[13] There is some sexual dimorphism in both plumage and dimensions, the female having a smaller bill and paler, more barred undersides.

A juvenile, displaying the pale tipped feathers on the wings. In adults the tips are dark.

The juvenile is similar to the adult but has pale tips to the feathers of the wings, and the rest of the plumage is buff instead of pale grey. The bill is less massive and dirty pink in colour, and the skin around the eye is not red.

Distribution and habitat

The channel-billed cuckoo has a widespread distribution across northern and eastern

Victoria, but are not thought to breed there. Vagrant birds have reached New Zealand and New Caledonia.[17][18]

After the breeding season, in March and April, birds breeding in Australia begin to migrate northwards to their wintering grounds in New Guinea and Indonesia. Birds breeding in New South Wales begin leaving earlier, in February and March.

Moluccas. It is not known if the species breeds in New Guinea, as some birds are present there all year. Migrating channel-billed cuckoos begin to return to Australia in August and September.[19]

Behaviour

The channel-billed cuckoo is often shy, remaining hidden in tree canopies feeding on fruit and most active in early morning and evening. Its loud raucous call makes it more often heard than seen. Other birds such as crows harass and chase it when they encounter it.[13]Miner birds and crows and some other species also swoop them

Breeding

Channel-billed cuckoo juvenile being fed by the pied currawong (Strepera graculina) that raised it.

Channel-billed cuckoos are

incubating
bird, driving it off the nest and allowing the female to lay.

The host species varies depending on the location; the most commonly targeted hosts are

altricial, being blind and naked. Unlike many other cuckoos, the chicks of the channel-billed cuckoo do not eject the other host eggs upon hatching or kill the host's chicks, but these seldom survive as the cuckoo chick is able to monopolise the supply of food. The chicks are fully feathered within four weeks, and leave the nest to clamber about on the branches, although chicks are fed for a number of weeks by the host parents after fledging
.

Diet

The channel-billed cuckoo's distinctive cross-shaped silhouette in flight

Unusually for cuckoos, which generally take insect prey, but like the closely related

cuckoo-shrikes
.

Relationship with humans

Channel-billed cuckoo juvenile being fed by the pied currawong (Strepera graculina) that raised it.

In northern Australia their migration coincides with the beginning of the

rainy season, leading to the species being given a range of colloquial names such as storm-bird, flood-bird or rain-bird.[17] The frugivorous habits of the species, coupled with its raptor-like appearance, have also resulted in it being known as the fig hawk.[8]

The channel-billed cuckoo is not considered

Australian koel its numbers have increased in some parts of its range due to increases in host species caused by extensive planting of gardens around Australian cities.[25]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22684079A93013251.en
    . Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  2. ^ Australian Biological Resources Study (12 February 2010). "Subspecies Scythrops novaehollandiae novaehollandiae Latham, 1790". Australian Faunal Directory. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  3. ^ a b Payne (2005), p. 380.
  4. ^ Payne (2005), p. 6.
  5. ^ Phillip, Arthur (1789). The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island, etc. London: Printed for John Stockdale. p. 165.
  6. ^ Latham, John (1790). Index Ornithologicus, Sive Systema Ornithologiae: Complectens Avium Divisionem In Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Ipsarumque Varietates (in Latin). Vol. 1. London: Leigh & Sotheby. p. 141.
  7. ISBN 0-19-910207-4
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-643-10471-6
    .
  9. ^ White, John (1790). Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, with sixty five plates of non-descript animals, birds, lizards, serpents, curious cones of trees and other natural productions. London: Debrett. p. 142.
  10. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Turacos, bustards, cuckoos, mesites, sandgrouse". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  11. doi:10.1071/MU9960217
    .
  12. ^ Sorenson, Michael D.; Payne, Robert B. "A molecular genetic analysis of cuckoo phylogeny". In Payne (2005), p. 93.
  13. ^ a b c Higgins 1999, p. 782.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4200-6444-5
    .
  15. ISBN 0-207-19821-7
  16. doi:10.3366/anh.2000.27.2.157
    .
  17. ^ a b Tennyson, A.; Brackenbury, G. (1998). "Channel-billed Cuckoos in New Zealand in spring 1996". Notornis. 45: 223–226.
  18. ^ Barré N.; Bachy P. (2003). "Complement of the list of the birds of New Caledonia". Alauda. 71 (1): 31–39.
  19. ^ a b Higgins 1999, p. 784.
  20. ISBN 0-19-553071-3
  21. ISBN 0-85661-135-2
    .
  22. ISBN 0-646-42798-9
    .
  23. ^ Corlett, R.; Ping, I. (1995). "Frugivory by koels in Hong Kong". Memoirs of the Hong Kong Natural History Society. 20: 221–222
  24. ^ Higgins 1999, p. 785.
  25. ^ Payne (2005), p. 11.

Cited texts

  • Higgins, P.J. (1999). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 4: Parrots to Dollarbird. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 978-0-19-553071-1
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-19-850213-5
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Scythrops novaehollandiae.
Wikispecies has information related to Scythrops novaehollandiae.
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