A summer migrant. Common accross northern Australia, uncommon in south-eastern Australia. Some overwinter on northern islands.
Habitat
Wooded areas, usually in the canopy or understorey. Often in dense vegetation, including monsoon rainforest, especially at the edges, gallery forests, wet schlerophyll forests, thickets of paperbarks, wattles and vines, and mangroves.
Habits
Usually solitary or in twos, or occasionally in small groups.
Food
Insects and their larvae, especially hairy caterpillars.
Voice
A long series of descending, clear, mellow, and quiet piercing calls, 'feee-ip, feeeip, feeeip...'. A ringing metallic 'pee-whip-ee' which may be either slow, gently rising and quite mellow or rapid, rising in pitch, ever quicker and higher until continuous.
Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus) [XC36884]
by Frank Lambert from Minnippi Wetlands, Brisbane, Australia (call)
Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus) [XC543533]
by Keith Blomerley from Aiope headwaters, Kunua District, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
October - February in the south-east, most months in the north.
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Nest
None. Egg(s) usually laid in that of species that construct open, cup-shaped nests.
Eggs (Guide)
Eggs are variable and similar to that of the host. About 16 - 20 x 12 - 16 mm. Incubation: 12 - 14 days. Two to four eggs may be laid by one female in one season, each in different nests.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 17 - 19 days.
Subspecies
Several additional island subspecies have been described (dumetorum, tymbonomus, fortior, tabarensis), but are nowadays considered invalid.
The following 12 subspecies are recognised:
sepulcralis (Vigors & Horsfield, 1826) - Malay Peninsula to Greater and Lesser Sundas, Sulawesi and south-western Philippines. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis).
everetti Hartert, 1925 - South-western Philippines (Basilan and Sulu Is). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis).
virescens (Brüggemann, 1876) - Sulawesi. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Rusty-breasted Cuckoo (Cacomantis sepulcralis).
aeruginosus Salvadori, 1878 - Moluccas. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Moluccan Cuckoo (Cacomantis aeruginosus).
infaustus Cabanis & Heine, 1863 - Northern and eastern Moluccas (Morotai, Tidore, Ternate, Halmahera, Bacan, Obi, Seram Laut, Watubela, Kai), New Guinea and islands to NE.
oreophilus Hartert, 1925 - Highlands of eastern and southern New Guinea.
blandus Rothschild & Hartert, 1914 - Admiralty Is.
macrocercus Stresemann, 1921 - Bismarck Archipelago (except New Hanover), Tabar I.
websteri Hartert, 1898 - New Hanover.
addendus Rothschild & Hartert, 1901 - Solomon Is.
variolosus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1826) - Northern and eastern Australia, breeds coastal and subcoastal eastern Australia, Burdekin River, Qld, south to Victoria. Winters north to Aru Is, Kai Is, Moluccas, New Guinea, western Papuan islands and Lesser Sundas (Timor, Kisar).
tymbonomus (Müller, S, 1843) - Eastern Lesser Sundas (Timor, and possibly east to Tanimbar Island).
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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BirdLife International Species Factsheet