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13

Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) Alternate name(s): "Fig-hawk", "Hornbill", "Giant Cuckoo", "Storm-bird*", "Rain-bird*", "Flood-bird*"; misnomer: "Toucan" Aboriginal name(s): "boggabri" [gamilaraay] Size: 58-65 cm Weight: 550-930 g

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Channel-billed Cuckoos are the largest cuckoos on Earth. They have a grey head, neck and chest. The belly is whitish, while the vent and undertail coverts are lightly barred grey-and-white. The wings are dark-brown with grey patches. The undertail shows the barring and notches typical of the tails of many Australian cuckoo species. Their most striking feature is the huge, ebony-coloured pointy bill, together with the red lores that connect to prominent red eye-rings. Male Channel-billed Cuckoos have a light-grey front. The front of females shows some vermiculation/barring. The irises are orange, the legs and feet are dark-grey. Juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoos have buff tints on the head and brown patches on the wings, rather than the grey patches of adults.

Taxonomy, classification See Channel-billed 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 based on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Channel-billed Cuckoo is available HERE . When not in Australia, Channel-billed Cuckoos are on islands of far south-eastern Asia, from eastern Indonesia and Timor Leste to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Channel-billed Cuckoos migrate to Australia from the North, making landfall anywhere along the North ocast, from the Kimberley in WA to Cape Melville in QLD. They populate the entire tropical far North of the continent plus the eastern half of QLD and the north-eastern corner of NSW, including parts of the northern inland. They can be found as far West as e.g. Walgett, NSW. There are occasional reports of sightings further inland and in VIC and Tasmania. Channel-billed Cuckoos can usually be found in (often dense) forest, with tall trees. As fruit eaters they are often found around native fig trees, but also pinching fruit (they are particularly fond of mulberries) from gardens.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Narrabri, in north-western NSW, is located on the western edge of the Channel-billed Cuckoo's range. In early October 2005 one bird flew a full circle above the house where we lived, 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW. A single Channel-billed Cuckoo was seen by us in the same year in Warrumbungle NP, 30 km West of Coonabarabran, NSW. Since then Channel-billed Cuckoos are found by us regularly, every breeding season, in and/or around Narrabri, in particular at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, NSW. Although seen in Warrumbungle NP in 2005, M. Windeyer reports that they only arrived in Gilgandra, NSW, in the 2019/2020 breeding season. C. Hayne reports that Channel-billed Cuckoos are found regularly around Moree, NSW, in spring/summer. Channel-billed Cuckoos are also regularly spotted by us and other contributors to this website along the entire East coast of Australia, from northern QLD to southern NSW. P. Brown found a Channel-billed Cuckoo at Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Darwin, NT, in April 2020.

Photos

ADULT

MALE

Frontal view of a male(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo; note the unmarked chest and belly
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2011]

Male(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo that has been spotted by a Magpie-lark
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2011]

Close-up lateral view of a male(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead, QLD, December 2017]

Lateral view of a male(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo in a Moreton Bay fig tree (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Moree, NSW, December 2013]

Male Channel-billed Cuckoo in flight; note the prominent black fringe around the trailing edge of the wings
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, December 2018]

FEMALE

Female(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo in a eucalypt tree; note the vermiculation on the front
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2008]

Frontal view of a female(?) Channel-billed Cuckoo trying to ward off an attack by an irate couple of Australian Magpies, who are potential hosts
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2008]

Female Channel-billed Cuckoo in flight; note the barring on the chest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2011]

Sex unknown

Near-dorsal view of a Channel-billed Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2016]

Here a view of the shingled back of the same Channel-billed Cuckoo as above; note also the characteristic black subterminal band and white tips on the tail
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2008]

Dorsal view of a Channel-billed Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2016]

Near-dorsal view of a Channel-billed Cuckoo in flight, wings flat
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Channel-billed Cuckoo in flight, wings up
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, March 2019]

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, near Sydney, NSW, February 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, near Sydney, NSW, February 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo in a Moreton Bay fig tree (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Moree, NSW, December 2013]

Lateral view of a juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo begging to be fed by its parents, a pair of Pied Currawongs
(photo courtesy of V. Bowe)
[Cremorne, NSW, January 2014]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Jan

Eggs: 1 - 2 / nest

Incubation period: ?

Fledging age: ?

All parasitic cuckoos must obviously adapt their breeding seasons to those of their potential hosts. The host eggs are removed or destroyed and replaced by the cuckoo's. Channel-billed Cuckoos host on birds such as Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Magpie-lark, White-winged Chough, Collared Sparrowhawk. They are also known to host on various species of corvids (ravens and crows).

Nest

"bungobittah", "malunna" = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Host

Material: Depends on host

Height above ground: Depends on host

Like all parasitic cuckoos, Channel-billed Cuckoos do not have their own nests, but lay their eggs into the nests of host birds.

Two Channel-billed Cuckoo chicks in the stick nest of a pair of Pied Currawongs (photo courtesy of L. Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, November 2016]

Closer view of two Channel-billed Cuckoo chicks in the stick nest of a pair of Pied Currawongs (photo courtesy of L. Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, November 2016]

Female Channel-billed Cuckoo inspecting a Magpie-lark nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2012]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 43 x 30 mm

Colour: Light-brown, with brown speckles

Shape: Long tapered oval

The colours and shape of the eggs roughly match those of potential hosts. However, the cuckoos' eggs are usually larger than the hosts' and their chicks stronger than the hosts'. The hosts' chicks are pushed out of the nest by the young cuckoo, if the hosts' eggs had not been destroyed by the female cuckoo in the first place.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ?

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

One of the few diurnal bird species that we have found to also be active at night, especially near full moon.

Channel-billed Cuckoos are known to be fruit eaters and as such they are very adaptable. They liked the mulberries in our garden (see photo below) and also the fruit of Californian pepper trees, both of which are species introduced to Australia by white settlers. They are also fond of the fruit of the native fig tree.

In 2008 we had to defend our mulberries against Channel-billed Cuckoos ourselves; in 2010 a pair of Australian Magpies took up residency in one of our trees and did the job for us. Only when the Magpie chicks were big enough to follow their parents around, they did not chase the cuckoos any longer.

V. Bowe has kindly provided us with a video showing in detail how a pair of Channel-billed Cuckoos raided the nest of a pair of Pied Currawings. The photo displayed below is a capture from the video. The cuckoos attacked the 2-week old chicks despite their parents' attempts to defend them, first breaking their necks by grabbing the chicks' heads and breaking their necks, before throwing them out of the nest for good measure.

Channel-billed Cuckoo killing a Pied Currawong chick and throwing it out of the nest (photo courtesy of V. Bowe)
[Cremorne, NSW, October 2012]

Food, Diet

Unlike most other cuckoos, Channel-billed Cuckoos are primarily fruit eaters, but they are known to also take large insects (e.g. stick insects) and there are reports of them feeding on chicks and eggs of other bird species.

Lateral view of a Channel-billed Cuckoo in a Moreton Bay fig tree (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Moree, NSW, December 2013]

Channel-billed Cuckoo in a Moreton Bay fig tree; this is one of the birds whose calls were recorded on 9 November 2014
[Moree, NSW, November 2014]

Channel-billed Cuckoo in our mulberry tree, obviously having a good time there...
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2010]

Two Channel-billed Cuckoos after a feast in our mulberry tree; one is still holding a trophy in its bill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2008]

Only seconds later the Channel-billed Cuckoo in the upper right was hustled by a male Magpie-lark, a potential host for the cuckoo's eggs, near its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2008]

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.

chbcuck_20141017.mp3	(NW NSW)	Contact calls (in-flight)	© MD
chbcuck_20141109.m4a	(NW NSW)	Pair Q&A	© MD
chbcuck_20141210.mp3	(NW NSW)	Q&A	© MD
chbcuck_pb_20200411.m4a	(Top End, NT)	Alarm/departure	© PB
chbcuck_20180914.m4a	(NW NSW)	Arrival & Q&A (5 am; with Southern Boobook)	© MD

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.

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