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Pallid Cuckoo (Cacomantis pallidus) Alternate name(s): "Grasshopper Hawk", "Harbinger-of-Spring", "Stormbird*", "Rainbird*", "Semitone-bird", "Scale-bird", "Brainfever-bird" Aboriginal name(s): "biyang-biyang" [eastern bundjalung]; "djoodorn" (WA) Size: 28-33 cm; wing span: ca. 52 cm Body mass: 63-118 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: ca. 0.17-0.31

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 Greater Sooty Owl Lesser 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

Similar species

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Pallid Cuckoos are medium-size cuckoos. They have a light-grey front (throat, chest and belly), a vent and undertail coverts barred in shades of grey and the typical heavily barred grey-and-white undertail of many Australian cuckoo species. The frons, crown and back are grey. The eyes with dark irises are surrounded by a yellow eye-ring, which is located within a black eye stripe. The wings are scalloped grey, with dark-grey flight feathers. They all have a small white or pale spot at the nape of the neck. All Pallid Cuckoos have dark irises, a black bill and grey legs and feet. The wings have the narrow white leading edge on the shoulders typical of many Australian cuckoo species. Males are always grey and have the smallest spot on the nape of the neck. There are two different hepatic morphologies of females, all of which have larger white spots on the hindneck than males. In the light-rufous morphology the wing coverts and the mantle are tinged rufous, rather than being light-grey. In the dark-rufous morphology, not only are the wing coverts and mantle clearly rufous, but the chin and chest also show a rufous tinge, possibly with some scalloping. The upperparts are all tinged rufous, even the parts that are dark-grey in other morphologies, from hindneck to uppertail. Juvenile Pallid Cuckoos are heavily scalloped in shades of brown and grey all over the body and their tail is barred like that of adults.

Taxonomy, classification See Pallid 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 Pallid Cuckoo is available HERE . Apart from Australia, Pallid Cuckoos are only found in Timor Leste. Pallid Cuckoos are migratory. During their breeding season they are found primarily in the South-East of Australia (Tasmania, VIC, NSW and south-eastern QLD) and the South-West (the south-western corner of WA, up to about Geraldton, but also inland up to the tropic of Capricorn near the spring of the Fitzroy River). Outside their breeding season they disperse, vacating the south-eastern parts of the continent and populating most of the NT and SA and the Kimberley in WA. They are occasionally found in the rest of the continent as well, except the most arid part (the major sandy deserts of eastern WA). They are also found on numerous offshore islands. Pallid Cuckoos are usually found in forest or more open woodland and on farmland with scattered trees.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Pallid Cuckoos showed up where we lived in 2003-2006, 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW, only occasionally. In general, we find Pallid Cuckoos only infrequently around Narrabri, NSW, although they are common in southern inland QLD. At Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, NSW, a Pallid Cuckoo appeared in August 2010. In 2011, again a single Pallid Cuckoo was seen in the third week of August. Migrating only inside Australia, they appear further South again earlier than other migrants that cross the Torres Strait. In 2011 these Australian migrants probably rode the northerly winds of a weather system that brought rain to inland NSW in mid-August. In 2016 the first Pallid Cuckoo of the season was again heard in late August, ahead of a rain event. Pallid Cuckoos are seen by us there semi-regularly since. An immature bird was found in the garden in May 2017, which is very late for this migratory species. Pallid Cuckoos were scarce during the drought of 2018/2019 and the first in a long time was found in March 2020. J. Greaves reports spotting a Pallid Cuckoo at the Granites Gold Mine, inland NT, in June 2015, and at Boolardy Station, Murchison, WA, in August 2016. M. Eaton reports spotting a Pallid Cuckoo at Goondiwindi, QLD, in March 2018, and another at Atkinson Dam, near Lowood, QLD, in October 2019. The species was also found in Windorah, QLD, in August 2022. They are found regularly in inland southern QLD. R. Plumtreereports finding an immature Pallid Cuckoo between Berri and Renmark, SA, in September 2018. Lots of Pallid Cuckoos were found by us in various locations around Outback south-western QLD in June 2019.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Male Pallid Cuckoos, left, show only 3 colours: Grey, white and black. Females, in light-rufous morphology, have a grey front and rufous-infused dark-grey back, including dark rufous-grey eyestripes; females in dark-rufous morphology have yet more rufous on their back.

MALE

Frontal view of a male Pallid Cuckoo with its prey, a cricket; note the smooth grey appearance of front and head
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, November 2018]

Frontal view of a male Pallid Cuckoo looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Lateral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo looking towards the observer
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, November 2018]

Close-up lateral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo on the ground (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, November 2018]

Lateral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo looking away from the observer, thereby showing its small white spot on the hindneck
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, July 2014]

Close-up near-dorsal/ventral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2010]

Close-up near-dorsal/ventral view of a male Pallid Cuckoo issuing its loud call
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2010]

Near-dorsal view showing a small pale patch at the back of a male Pallid Cuckoo's head
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Dorsal view of a male Pallid Cuckoo looking sideways; note the dark eye-stripe but otherwise light-grey sides of the head
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Willie Wagtail was clearly not pleased by the Pallid Cuckoo's appearance
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Dorsal view showing the small pale patch at the back of a (probably male) Pallid Cuckoo's head
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Boolardy Station, Murchison, WA, August 2016]

FEMALE

Light-rufous morphology

Near-frontal view of a female Pallid Cuckoo; note the dark eye-stripe and the indication of rufous on the neck
(photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Between Berri and Renmark, SA, September 2018]

Lateral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo behaving strangely, by staying on the ground while being approached by an observer
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, October 2016]

Lateral/ventral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo issuing its call (photo courtesy of V. Collins)
[Pilliga scrub, NSW, September 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a female Pallid Cuckoo in flight
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Dark-rufous morphology

Close-up frontal view of a dark-rufous morph female Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2023]

Close-up near-frontal view of a female Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2023]

Close-up near-frontal/ventral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2023]

Close-up near-lateral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2023]

Lateral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Atkinson Dam, near Lowood, QLD, October 2019]

Lateral view of a female Pallid Cuckoo in mellow light issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Windorah, QLD, August 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a female Pallid Cuckoo looking sideways
[Near Narrabri, NSW, September 2019]

Sex unknown

Lateral view of a Pallid Cuckoo looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Coolmunda, near Inglewood, QLD, November 2024]

Lateral view of a Pallid Cuckoo (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Coolmunda, near Inglewood, QLD, November 2024]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up dorsal view of an immature Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2017]

Frontal view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2019]

Frontal view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo, with a Willie Wagtail confronting it; note the copious white on the wing coverts characterizing this bird as immature
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2013]

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo looking at the observer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2013]

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2013]

Lateral view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2013]

Juvenile Pallid Cuckoo under attack from a pair of Willie Wagtails
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2020]

Juvenile Pallid Cuckoo being knocked off its perch by a Willie Wagtail
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2020]

Breeding information

As all cuckoos, Pallid Cuckoos host on smaller bird species. One potential host species is the White-plumed Honeyeater.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary

During the breeding season both male and female Pallid Cuckoos are territorial. The "home range" of a female, which overlaps with at least one male's territory, is smaller than the male's.

Pallid Cuckoo on a power line; note the drooping wings, which is often observed in this species (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[The Granites Gold Mine, inland NT, June 2015]

The way this Pallid Cuckoo was challenged by different species of woodswallows, one can tell that the species hosts on them
[Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Food, Diet

Like most other cuckoos, Pallid Cuckoos are insect hunters. They take their prey from foliage and from the ground. This species has a taste for hairy caterpillars, which most other birds dislike.

Male Pallid Cuckoo with its prey, a cricket (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Yarrie Lake, near Wee Waa, NSW, November 2018]

Female Pallid Cuckoo with its prey, a juicy caterpillar (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Victoria Highway, NT, September 2020]

Lateral view of a Pallid Cuckoo taking off with its prey, a grasshopper
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2020]

Lateral view of a juvenile Pallid Cuckoo with its prey (which looks like a small beetle)
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2013]

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.

palcuck_20190617.m4a	dumetorum (SW QLD)	Contact calls (male)	© MD
palcuck_20190617_3.m4a	dumetorum (SW QLD)	Q&A (male & female) + Rufous Songlark	© MD
palcuck_20190617_2.m4a	dumetorum (SW QLD)	Q&A (male & female) (+ Masked Woodswallows)	© MD
palcuck_20190617_2.m4a	dumetorum (NW NSW)	Various (+ White-browed Woodswallows)	© MD
palcuck_20231205.m4a	dumetorum (NW NSW)	? (female at night)	© MD
palcuck_20231205_2.m4a	dumetorum (NW NSW)	? (female at night)	© MD

More Pallid 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.

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