Food
Almost entirely insects, mostly caterpillars, but also beetles and grasshoppers. Occasionally plant material.
Voice
Male utters a repeated series of slightly husky, melow, whistles on a rising scale, 'quip-peer-peer-peeer-peeer-peer', 'quip-quip-pip-pip-pieeer' in spring. Female resonds with a drwan out, husky, sharp, 'queeeep.
Nest
None. Egg(s) laid in that of the foster parents.
Eggs (Guide)
1; flesh-pink to salmon-buff, sometimes with a few small scattered dark specks; long-oval; about 25 x 18 mm. Incubation: 12 - 14 days; carried out by the species whose nest has been parasitised.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Females and immatures with Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) which has complete bold blackish barring from the lower breast to vent, and relatively bolder barring on the undertail-coverts.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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