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Although birds are usually quite easy to see, often they are more difficult to identify. You may have had the briefest glimpse or heard a snatch of its song, or perhaps it was a bird you have never seen before. The best place to look for it is here.

You will discover the remarkable variety of birds that occur across Australia. With stunning images of featured species and some recordings of their songs and calls, you are sure to find that mystery bird, or learn more about species you already know.

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Atlas & Birdata

The Atlas is one of BirdLife Australia's greatest resources, allowing us to track changes in birds across the country. Since 1998 a dedicated band of... More >

Beach-nesting Birds

BirdLife Australia’s Beach-nesting Birds project works with community volunteers across Australia to help raise awareness among beach users about... More >

Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo Recovery

BirdLife Australia has been running the Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo Recovery project since 2001. We work with various land managers, government and... More >

Shorebirds 2020

The Shorebirds 2020 program aims to reinvigorate and coordinate national shorebird population monitoring in Australia. To report on the population... More >

Woodland Birds for Biodiversity

Since European settlement one-third of Australia’s woodlands and 80% of temperate woodlands have been cleared. The Woodland Birds for Biodiversity... More >

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Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo

Chalcites basalis
Cuculidae

The persistent, descending whistled call of the Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo is heard throughout most of Australia. They inhabit a wide variety of lightly wooded habitats, where they often perch on a fence-post or exposed branch of a shrub, calling throughout the day and sometimes at night. Calling is most common in spring and summer, but also occurs in other seasons. Being a cuckoo, this species lays its eggs in the nests of other species, and its presence often generates irate alarm calls of potential hosts.

Identification

Description

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is an olive-brown above with pale scaling and a bronze to green sheen on the back and upper tail. It has a prominent dark-brown eyestripe, with a contrasting white eyebrow stripe above, with both curving down the sides of the neck. The throat is white with fine dark mottling.The underbody is white to cream with dark-brown barring at the sides, with the bars joining in the middle on the upper breast only. The undertail is grey with brown and white barring at the tip and sides. The tail is edged rufous (orange-brown) and the undertail is rufous when spread. Juveniles are similar but duller with faint or no barring on sides of body.

Similar Species

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is similar to the Gould's, Shining and Little Bronze-Cuckoos, but these all have distinctive barring right up the throat; The Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo's throat is mottled or plain and the barring of the underbody is incomplete. The dark eyestripe combined with white eyebrow extending to neck also distinguishes it from other bronze-cuckoos. The similarly patterned Black-eared Cuckoo can be distinguished by its broader, black eyestripe, a lack of rufous in the tail and no barring on the underbody. It is also larger (19 cm - 20 cm) and has a different call.

Location

Distribution

In Australia, Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is found in all regions, including some islands. It is widespread on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, and is found down through New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania and South Australia, but not on the Nullarbor Plain. Widespread in the Northern Territory and Western Australia except in the most arid areas (also found on Ashmore Reef). It is also found from the Malay Peninsula to the lesser Sundas, Indonesia and, rarely, Aru Island and southern New Guinea.

Habitat

The Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is found in many wooded habitats (such as open and dry woodland and forest) with a range of understoreys from grasses to shrubs or heath. Sometimes found near clearings and in recently logged or burnt forests. Found in farmland with some trees, orchards, vineyards and urban parks and gardens.

Behaviour

Feeding

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo feeds mostly on insects and their larvae, especially hairy caterpillars, although it may sometimes eat plant matter. It forages on the ground and in trees, and may sometimes feed in the air on caterpillars lowering themselves to the ground by sticky threads.

Breeding

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is a nest parasite, like many other cuckoos. It usually parasitises bird species that build dome nests such as fairy-wrens and thornbills, but may also parasitise the open cup nests of other species, such as the White-fronted Chat. The female lays one egg in the host's nest. This egg can sometimes resemble the host's eggs in markings, but not necessarily. If the egg is laid before those of the host, the host bird may build over or abandon the cuckoo egg. Otherwise, the female cuckoo removes one of the host's eggs, or the newly hatched young cuckoo ejects the eggs or nestlings of the host. The host parents incubate the cuckoo egg and feed the young, up to several weeks after it fledges.

Conservation Status

Federal

Secure

NSW

Secure

NT

Secure

QLD

Secure

SA

Secure

TAS

Secure

VIC

Secure

WA

Secure