Bush cuckoo
| Bush cuckoo | ||||||||||
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Bush cuckoo |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Cacomantis variolosus | ||||||||||
| ( Vigors & Horsfield , 1826) |
The bush cuckoo ( Cacomantis variolosus ) belongs to the order of the cuckoo birds (Cuculiformes) and to the family of the cuckoos (Cuculidae). Like numerous species of cuckoo birds, the bush cuckoo is an obligatory brood parasite . As is characteristic of the genus Cacomantis , the bush cuckoo is an extremely small species of cuckoo.
The range of the bush cuckoo is very large. Its breeding area extends over Australia and the Wallacea to Southeast Asia. The northernmost distribution areas are in Thailand and Myanmar. Ten subspecies are described and two color morphs are also distinguished in the females .
The IUCN classifies the species as not endangered (least concern).
features
Body measurements and physique
The bush cuckoo reaches a body length of 20 to 23 centimeters. He is a little smaller than the fan-tailed cuckoo , which he otherwise resembles in his physique. Overall, the bush cuckoo looks somewhat more compact than this species due to its shorter and less rounded tail in relation to its body size.
Of the body length, the males have an average of 11.5 centimeters on the tail plumage. The tail plumage of the females is slightly shorter and measures an average of 10.6 centimeters. The wings are an average of 13.5 centimeters long in the males. Those of the females measure between 12.8 and 13.2 centimeters. The beak is on average 2.2 centimeters long. They weigh between 28 and 49 grams.
The iris is dark red-brown to black-brown with a slightly lighter outer ring. The orbital ring is cream, pale yellow, blue-gray, or gray. The beak is gray-black, black or dark brown. The base of the beak is light brown to pale yellow. The inside of the beak is orange to red. The legs and feet are reddish-orange, red-brown, green-yellow to olive-colored.
male
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In the male, the vertex and neck are gray, the sides of the head are also gray with a slightly lighter stripe over the eyes. The rest of the top of the body is gray-brown with a slight greenish tinge. In birds with worn plumage, the upper side of the body is a little more brownish. The outer upper tail ceilings have individually different widths of white outer seams. The wings are gray-brown with a slight bronze shimmer. The wing feathers are dark gray with a striking white feather base, except for the two outermost on the underside. These form the characteristic white stripes on the underside of the wing.
The males are gray on the front underside of the body. This shade of gray is lightest on the chin and throat. On the belly, the rear flanks and the under tail coverts, this gray gradually turns into a light brown to reddish brown. A few individuals are also speckled gray on the underside of the body.
The stepped tail is black-brown on top with a broad black end band and white tips. On the underside, the tail is glossy gray with white tips and a white transverse banding on the inside flags.
female
In the females, a striped and an unstriped color morph are distinguished.
The unstriped color morph can hardly be distinguished from the males, but overall somewhat lighter and with plumage that is slightly more brown. The underside of the body is often speckled with gray.
The striped color morph has either an unstriped or a cross-banded gray-brown head, neck, back neck and upper side of the body. The transverse banding is gray-brown with brownish to pale brownish spots. The underside of the body is whitish with a noticeable dark gray-brown transverse banding. The breast plumage is also often reddish-brown.
Fledglings
Young birds differ significantly from the adult bush cuckoos. They are strongly banded and spotted on both the top and the bottom of the body. The tail plumage is also spotted light and red-brown on the upper side.
The crown and the back of the neck are black-brown with broad dashes and large spots that are light brown to red-brown in color. The chin, throat and front neck are cream-colored with black-brown dashes and spots. The rest of the top of the body is black-brown with conspicuous brown to dark red-brown transverse bands that are somewhat finer on the rump and the upper tail-coverts. The wings are also black-brown on the upper side with light brown to red-brown transverse bands. The breast is cream-colored to light brownish. The rest of the underside of the body is whitish with initially broad, black-brown transverse bands and spots and a finer transverse banding on the belly and the lower tail-covers.
The beak of the young birds is predominantly gray-black, whereby the lower bill and the base of the upper bill can still be brownish yellow to dirty pink. The inside of the beak is yellow. The iris is olive in color. The orbital ring is narrower and dark green compared to the adult birds. The legs are greenish gray.
distribution
The bush cuckoo is found in Australasia and Southeast Asia. The distribution area in Australia runs in a wide strip along the coast from the southeast of the Australian continent to the northwest. The species is also found in New Guinea and numerous small islands in Wallacea . The majority of the subspecies are resident birds , only the nominate form is a partial migrant .
The following subspecies are distinguished in the large distribution area:
- Cacomantis variolosus sepulcralis ( Müller, S , 1843): Occurrence in the south of Thailand and Myanmar as well as on the Malay peninsula. The distribution area extends over Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali and the Philippines to the Lesser Sunda Islands.
- C. v. everetti E. JO Hartert , 1925: Southwest of the Philippines ( Basilan and Sulu Archipelago )
- C. v. virescens ( Brüggemann , 1876): The distribution area includes Sulawesi, Peleng , Butung and Tukang Besi . The subspecies is believed to be found on the Sula Islands as well.
- C. v. infaustus Cabanis & Heine , 1863: North and East of the Moluccas (Morotai, Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera, Bacan, Seram Laut, Watubela, Kai Island and probably also Obi), New Guinea and islands off the north and east coast of New Guinea are.
- C. v. oreophilus E. JO Hartert , 1925 - Highlands in the east and south of New Guinea.
- C. v. blandus Rothschild & EJO Hartert , 1914: The range of this subspecies is limited to the Admiralty Islands .
- C. v. macrocercus Stresemann , 1921: The distribution area includes the Bismarck Archipelago . The subspecies is only absent on Lavongai and the Tabar Islands .
- C. v. websteri E. JO Hartert , 1898: The distribution area is limited to Lavongai
- C. v. addendus Rothschild & EJO Hartert , 1901: The range of this subspecies are the Solomon Islands .
- C. v. variolosus ( Vigors & Horsfield , 1827): North and East Australia. The distribution area extends in a wide strip along the coast from the southwest of Kimberley to the state of Victoria . The subspecies winters in an area that stretches from northern Australia through New Guinea to the Lesser Sunda Islands.
So far, only a few data on bird conditions are available: Between 1953 and 1996, a total of 137 bush cuckoos were ringed in Australia and New Guinea, of which 6 were recaptured. Of these 6 individuals, all were recaptured less than 10 kilometers from the original condition location. These few data point to a locality.
habitat
In Australia, the bush cuckoo inhabits the edges of dense monsoon rainforests, gallery forests, mangroves, scrubland with climbing plants, acacia and myrtle heather forests. However, it also occurs in dry regions when these are loosely covered with trees and can even be seen in gardens. In Northern Australia it uses different habitats seasonally. In the dry season it can be found in mangroves and monsoon rainforests. During the rainy season, however, it is mainly to be found in light forest areas.
In addition to primary forest, it also settles secondary forest, scrubland, casuarina groves. The altitude distribution extends to altitudes of 1,800 meters. In New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, however, it stays below 1200 meters. Grassland is rarely populated by him even if it still has tree remains.
Way of life
The way of life of the bush cuckoo has not yet been conclusively investigated. Outside of the breeding season they live mostly solitary, but are occasionally socialized in small groups. Bush cuckoos often sit motionless in the branches for a long time. Their upright posture is striking. They usually keep their waiting areas in the treetops, where they are difficult to make out or clearly identified.
The food mainly consists of hairy caterpillars, but they also eat other insects such as dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, wasps, spiders, snails as well as fruits and grass seeds.
Reproduction
So far, only a few observations on the courtship behavior of the bush cuckoo have been made. The male calls very loudly and frequently immediately after arriving in the breeding area. According to the current state of knowledge, the male flies after the female. They show antagonistic behavior towards other males.
The bush cuckoo is an obligatory brood parasite, which means that the female lays one egg in the nest of a host bird species and is not involved in the rearing of the young bird. Occasional nests with two or three eggs of the bush cuckoo have also been found, but these are certainly the eggs laid by different females. According to current knowledge, eggs are laid before or after the first egg-laying by the host bird. If the brood of the host bird fails and it lays another clutch, it will be parasitized again by the bush cuckoo.
About one third of the species of the honeyeater family belong to the host bird species in Australia , but also fan tails such as the New Zealand fan tail or species from the family of flycatchers such as red-fronted flycatchers or scarlet flycatchers play . At least 38 bush cuckoo host bird species have been recorded in Australia. Most host bird species have open shell nests.
As for many species of cuckoo, the breeding season is short. It is estimated at 12 days. The cuckoo nestlings hatch naked and blind. During their first 30 hours of life, they remove any eggs of the host bird species that may still be there from their host nest, as well as any nest siblings that may be present. They fled after about 17 days and were seen begging their host parents for food for a month after leaving the country.
Trivia
The call repertoire of the bush cuckoo includes a three-syllable call, which in Australia is called Where's-the-tea .
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler & Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea: Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2016, ISBN 978-0691164243 .
- NB Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats . T & AD Poyser, London 2000, ISBN 0-85661-135-2 .
- PJ Higgins (Editor): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1999, ISBN 0-19-553071-3 .
- Johannes Erhitzøe, Clive F. Mann, Frederik P. Brammer, Richard A. Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-7136-6034-0 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ a b Higgins (HSG.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . P. 677.
- ↑ a b Handbook of the Birds of the World zum Buschkuckuck , accessed on November 26, 2017
- ↑ a b Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 404.
- ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 405.
- ↑ a b c d Higgins (HSG.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . P. 678.
- ↑ a b c d e f Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 406.
- ↑ a b Higgins (HSG.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . P. 679.
- ↑ a b Higgins (HSG.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . P. 681.
- ↑ a b c Higgins (HSG.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds: Volume 4 Parrots to Dollarbird . P. 682.