The Cuckoos Have Arrived

It's spring down here in the southern hemisphere and, over the last few weeks, many migratory birds have arrived in Tasmania. This includes various cuckoo species. By Cuckoo, I'm referring to the parasitic cuckoos of the subfamily Cuculinae. Those are the ones that lay there eggs in the nests of other birds. There are at least two species present on my own property. I hear their rather distinctive calls throughout the day. They are the Fan-tailed cuckoo and the Shining Bronze-cuckoo. Two other species also visit Tasmania in the warmer months, those being, Horsefield's bronze-cuckoo and the Pallid cuckoo.

Only three of the four are shown below. The Pallid Cuckoo has thus far eluded me. I do have a video of it somewhere but no decent photos.

The first photo is of the Fan-tailed cuckoo. Although migratory, a handful of these will actually stay along the north coast over winter.

_{( All photos, videos, and text on this blog are by @mostly.nature )}

_{Fan-tailed Cuckoo - Cacomantis flabelliformis}

Next is the Shining bronze-cuckoo. These spend winter as far north as New Guinea, but spring and summer, migrate all the way down to southern Australia and Tasmania.

_{Shining Bronze-cuckoo - Chalcites lucidus}

Last is Horsefield's bronze-cuckoo. These are widespread throughout Australia. The are resident in the north but migrate to southern areas in the warmer months to breed. Notice it's quite similar to the previous species but has a dark eye stripe and the bars on the underside are broken. (They do not extend right across)

_{Horsefield's Bronze-cuckoo - Chalcites basalis}

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