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22

Common Cicadabird (Edolisoma [Coracina] tenuirostre) Alternate name(s): "Cicadabird", "Slender-billed Cicadabird", "Jardine Caterpillar-eater", "Caterpillar-catcher", "Jardine Triller" Size: 24-26 cm Weight: 60-75 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 Common Cicadabirds are the smallest Australian cuckoo-shrikes. The Common Cicadabird is the only Australian cuckoo-shrike with a dimorphic plumage, i.e. males and females are different. Male Common Cicadabirds are dark-grey throughout, with a black eye stripe and near-black tail and flight feathers with dark-grey edge lining. Apart from an off-white throat patch, female Common Cicadabirds have a light-brown front with thin darker-brown barring from the upper chest to the lower belly. They have dark-brown eye stripes, lighter brown eyebrows and light-and-dark brown striated ear coverts. The frons, crown and back, from the nape of the neck to the tail, are all greyish-brown. The flight feathers are dark-brown, with lighter brown edge lining. The eyes of both sexes have black irises. The thin, slightly down-curved bill, the legs and feet are all dark-grey. Juveniles resemble females, but are more heavily barred. Twitcher's tip Although for a long time considered to be a member of the genus Coracina, the Common Cicadabird's dimorphism and also the morphology of the females' plumage are in fact more similar to those of both members of the Lalage family, i.e., White-winged and Varied Trillers.

Taxonomy, classification See Common Cicadabird 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 Cicadabird is available HERE . There are several races of Cicadabirds. Altogether their range spans across eastern Indonesia, Timor Leste, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, extending southwards to Australia. In Australia two races of Common Cicadabirds are found. Nominate race "tenuirostre" breeds only in Australia. It occurs along the East coast, from South of Cape Melville, QLD, to about the NSW/VIC border, and along the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Occasionally they extend their range farther inland, up to the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range (including, e.g., Warrumbungle NP and the Pilliga scrub). Along the (near-)coastal fringe of tropical North Australia, from Cape Melville, QLD, throughout the northern part of Cape York peninsula, the Top End of the NT and the Kimberley in WA, endemic race "melvillensis" is found. Common Cicadabirds prefer forests and woodlands, but will also be found in mangrove and paperbark swamps.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "tenuirostre" A male Common Cicadabird, race "tenuirostre", was spotted by C. Hayne at Ballina, NSW, in December 2012. B. Hensen reports spotting Common Cicadabirds, race "tenuirostre", at St. Albans, NSW, in December 2012 and again in March 2018. A Common Cicadabird, race "tenuirostre", was heard calling by us at Upper Bullawa Creek, Mt. Kaputar NP, in October 2013. We thank B. Hensen for identifying the bird's call. A Common Cicadabird was found at the same location again in January 2018. In December 2013 a pair was observed at Deriah Aboriginal Area. Several Common Cicadabirds, race "tenuirostre", were observed in Leard State Forest, near Maules Creek, NSW, in November 2014. E. Scott reports spotting a Common Cicadabird, race "tenuirostre", at Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, in December 2016. B. Hensen reports finding a Common Cicadabird, race "tenuirostre", at St. Albans, NSW, in February 2014. M. Eaton spotted a Common Cicadabird, race "tenuirostre", at Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, in November 2018, and another at the same location in December 2019. Race "melvillensis" B. Hensen reports spotting a female Common Cicadabird, race "melvillensis", in Darwin, NT, in August 2013.

Photos

Race "tenuirostre"

ADULT

MALE

Near-lateral/ventral view of a male Common Cicadabird; mellow early morning light gives it a brownish hue
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, December 2019]

Lateral view of a male Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of E. Scott)
[Roseberry Creek Valley, near Toonumbar NP, northern NSW, December 2016]

Lateral view of a male Common Cicadabird
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, December 2013]

Lateral view of a male Common Cicadabird, different posture
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, December 2013]

Dorsal view of a male Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, February 2014]

Dorsal view of a male Common Cicadabird, different posture
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, December 2013]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, November 2018]

Frontal view of a female Common Cicadabird looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, November 2018]

Lateral view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[D'Aguilar NP, near Brisbane, QLD, January 2023]

Lateral view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead Reserve, Anstead, QLD, November 2018]

Lateral view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2012]

Lateral view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, November 2018]

Race "melvillensis"

ADULT

FEMALE

Near-dorsal view of a female Common Cicadabird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Darwin, NT, August 2013]

Behaviour

Mimicking cicada calls, Common Cicadabirds wait for a response. If they get one, they will pounce on their prey.

Male Common Cicadabird observed by us calling by mimicking a cicada (upper left) and then checking for any response; the bird mimicked both the long-drawn rattle of a cicada and the short burst that can be heard during take-off
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, December 2013]

Food, Diet

As their names already suggest, Common Cicadabirds have a preference for Cicadas, caterpillars and other relatively large insects.

Male Common Cicadabird with its prey, a caterpillar (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, February 2014]

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.

cicada_20140124.mp3	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Contact calls	© MD
cicada_20191127.m4a	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Cicada call (long)	© MD
cicada_20190101_2.m4a	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Cicada call (medium)	© MD
cicada_20190101_3.m4a	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Cicada call (short)	© MD
cicada_20171209.m4a	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Cicada call	© MD
cicada_20180131.m4a	tenuirostre (NW NSW)	Cicada call (distant)	© MD

For comparison, here a few examples of male cicadas' tymbal clicks that these calls are mimicking (there are 200 species of cicadas in Australia, with various sound patterns).

cicada_20191203.m4a	(NW NSW)		© MD
cicada_20181226.m4a	(NW NSW)		© MD

More Common Cicadabird 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: Thu, 2 February 2023, 4:36 +00:00