Little Bronze Cuckoo

Chalcites minutillus

Family: Cuckoos · Status: Common resident · Size: 16 cm · Conservation: Not Evaluated

Range

Resident from mainland Southeast Asia and the Greater Sundas to New Guinea and Australia.

Identification

Male has black bill, pale forehead, dark bars across whitish underparts, bronze-green mantle and distinctive red eyering. Female resembles male but has duller mantle and yellow eyering. Juvenile is browner above with faint or no bars on flanks, and no eyering. Separated from Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo by barred (vs. streaked) throat, lack of dark eyestripe, and lack of rufous outertail feathers. Separated from Asian Emerald Cuckoo by smaller size, bronze-green (not golden emerald-green) plumage and red eyering. Female Violet Cuckoo has a reddish-bronze crown, redder bill, and thicker, stronger bars on underparts.

Habitat

Secondary growth, coastal scrub, mangroves, forest edge, gardens and parks.

Behaviour

Forages mainly in tree canopy and joins mixed-species flocks; eats caterpillars and insects. A brood parasite of Golden-bellied Gerygone.