Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is a small cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. Its size averages 22 g (0.78 oz) and is distinguished by its green and bronze iridescent colouring on its back and incomplete brown barring from neck to tail. Horsfield's bronze cuckoo can be distinguished from other bronze cuckoos by its white eyebrow and brown eye stripe. The Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is common throughout Australia preferring the drier open woodlands away from forested areas. This species was formerly placed in the genus Chrysococcyx.
Region
Australia and southern New Guinea
Typical Environment
Occurs widely across Australia, most common in drier open habitats including mallee, acacia and mulga woodlands, chenopod shrublands, and coastal heath. It also uses farm edges, roadside trees, and riverine woodlands, but generally avoids dense rainforest and closed wet forests. During the non-breeding season some birds move north into tropical and subtropical areas and a few reach southern New Guinea. It is scarce in heavily urbanized cores but can be found in green belts and larger parks with native shrubs.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1500 m
Climate Zone
Other
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A small brood-parasitic cuckoo, it lays its eggs in the nests of small passerines such as fairy-wrens and thornbills. Adults have a distinctive white eyebrow and dark eye-stripe, with glossy green-bronze upperparts. Many populations migrate seasonally within Australia, with some birds wintering in the north and occasionally in southern New Guinea. They often take hairy caterpillars that many other birds avoid.
Photographed at Capertee Valley, NSW, Australia
Temperament
secretive and active
Flight Pattern
direct flight with short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in pairs outside the breeding season. A brood parasite, it watches host territories and quickly deposits an egg in the host’s nest, often removing one host egg. The chick usually ejects host eggs or nestlings soon after hatching. Breeding occurs mainly in spring–summer in southern Australia.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Call is a high, thin, descending series of whistles, often given from a concealed perch. Phrases can be repeated in steady sequences, carrying well over open country. Soft chattering notes are used at close range.
