mdahlem.net WWW

Aust birds    Bird names   News   1-26    Habitats    Key plants    Glossary    Plumage    Nests    Tips    Thumbnails    Gen. info    Sponsors    Photos for sale
NON-PASSERINES     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10     11     12     13     14	15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     24     25     26     PASSERINES
Common names sorted alphabetically: A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   W   Y

13

Black-eared Cuckoo (Chalcites [Chrysococcyx] osculans) Size: 19-21 cm Weight: 25-38 g

Australia: Family Group 13 Family Group 13 Table Oriental Cuckoo Pallid Cuckoo Brush Cuckoo Black-eared Cuckoo Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo Fan-tailed Cuckoo Horsefield's Bronze-Cuckoo Shining Bronze-Cuckoo Little Bronze-Cuckoo Australian Koel Channel-billed Cuckoo Pheasant Coucal Rufous Owl Powerful Owl Barking Owl Australian Boobook Eastern Barn Owl Eastern Grass Owl Australian Masked Owl Sooty Owl Marbled Frogmouth Tawny Frogmouth Papuan Frogmouth White-throated Nightjar Spotted Nightjar Large-tailed Nightjar Australian Owlet-nightjar Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Thumbnails page Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black-eared Cuckoos are relatively small cuckoos. The back, from the crown downwards, is brownish-grey, while the front (throat, chest and belly) is creamy. The vent and undertail coverts are barred creamy-white. Black-eared Cuckoos have a prominent, wide black eye stripe between narrow white stripes. The wings are brownish-grey, like the back, while the undertail is barred grey-and-white. Black-eared Cuckoos have dark irises, a dark-grey bill and grey legs and feet.

Taxonomy, classification See Black-eared Cuckoo at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black-eared Cuckoo is available HERE . Apart from Australia, Black-eared Cuckoos are found only in eastern Indonesia and southern New Guinea. NB: Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their distribution is not a good representation of the overall distribution of the species. Black-eared Cuckoos migrate to Australia from the North via Cape York peninsula. They breed in the inland of the southern half of the Australian continent, in three major areas: Basically all of inland NSW and southern QLD; most of the western half and the south-eastern corner of SA; south-western WA (but not the tip of the continent). From there they migrate North outside the breeding season, populating the Kimberley, all of the tropical North of the continent and all of the NT and QLD (except the QLD South coast). Except for the South coast of SA and Cape York peninsula, they are not found anywhere on the South or East coast of Australia. Black-eared Cuckoos are usually found in relatively open country, with shrubs, and widely spaced trees and also in open woodland, mostly in the semi-arid interior. They can also be found in farmland with scattered trees.

Sightings Click here for sighting information A Black-eared Cuckoo was a regular summertime visitor at the farm where we lived in 2003-2006, 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW. Black-eared Cuckoos were heard and seen by us again at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, NSW. in August/September 2010 and again the following year in mid-August 2011. Since then they are found by us around Narrabri semi-regularly. A significant number of Black-eared Cuckoos overwintered in the Narrabri region in 2020. H. Mouritsen spotted a Black-eared Cuckoo near Darwin, NT, in October 2015. Both M. Eaton and ourselves found Black-eared Cuckoos at the Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, in June 2019. That season the first Black-eared Cuckoo was heard calling near Narrabri, NSW, in the second week of July. P. Brown reports first finding a Black-eared Cuckoo at Rapid Creek, Darwin, NT, in November 2021.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Black-eared Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a Black-eared Cuckoo (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Rapid Creek, Darwin, NT, November 2021]

Near-lateral view of a Black-eared Cuckoo in fresh plumage; note the buff tint (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Black-eared Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Black-eared Cuckoo in fresh plumage; note the buff tint (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Lateral view of a Black-eared Cuckoo in fresh plumage; note the buff tint (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Dorsal view of a Black-eared Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo; more information about it and its hosts is available HERE
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ?

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary

Food, Diet

Like most other cuckoos, Black-eared Cuckoos are insect hunters. They take their prey from foliage and from the ground. This species has a rare taste for hairy caterpillars that most other bird species dislike.

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo drinking water
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black-eared Cuckoo drinking water
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2019]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

blecuck_20200919_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (male)	© MD
blecuck_20200801.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (male)	© MD
blecuck_20190618.m4a	(SW QLD)	Contact calls (male)	© MD
blecuck_20200815_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (male), long sequence	© MD
blecuck_20180810_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact call (female)?	© MD
blecuck_20180810_1.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact call (female)?; response by Jacky Winter	© MD
blecuck_20180810.m4a	(NW NSW)	Arrival (female)?; response by Jacky Winter	© MD
blecuck_20200919.m4a	(NW NSW)	Various (pair)	© MD
blecuck_20200815_3.m4a	(NW NSW)	? (pair)	© MD
blecuck_20190618_2.m4a	(SW QLD)	? (female?)	© MD
blecuck_20200815.m4a	(NW NSW)	?	© MD

More Black-eared Cuckoo sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Wed, 10 November 2021, 0:37 +00:00