Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis) [XC654079]
by Richard Fuller from Bold Park, Cambridge, Western Australia, Australia (song)
Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis) [XC654088]
by Richard White from Bold Park, Cambridge, Western Australia, Australia (song)
Nest
None. Egg(s) laid in that of the foster parents. The most common species are White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) and Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla).
Eggs (Guide)
1; slightly lustrous, white to mauve, finely speckled, flecked and spotted all over, especially towards the larger end, with varying shades of chestnut, purple-brown and lavender; oval; 18 - 25 x 14 - 18 mm. Incubation is carried out by the species whose nest has been parasitised (14 - 15 days).
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 16 - 17 days.
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in Cuculus. Species formerly listed as Cacomantis pyrrophanus (or erroneously as Cacomantis pyrrhophanus), due to confusion as to which form had been the original model for the painting used as the basis of the name flabelliformis.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
excitus Rothschild & Hartert, 1907 - New Guinea, New Caledonia, Loyalty and Solomon Islands.
meeki Rothschild & Hartert, 1902 - Solomon Is.
schistaceigularis Sharpe, 1900 - Vanuatu and Banks Islands.
pyrrophanus (Vieillot, 1817) - New Caledonia and Loyalty Is.
simus (Peale, 1849) - Fiji.
flabelliformis Latham, 1801 - Eastern Australia from Cape York Peninsula south to Victoria and Tasmania, then west along the southern coast to Eyre Peninsula, SA with a gap to south-western Australia.
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