The pavonine cuckoo is a Neotropical cuckoo with a long graduated tail and a short crest. It is one of three species of Neotropical cuckoo which are known to be brood parasites.
Region
Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield
Typical Environment
Occurs across humid lowland forests of the Amazon and adjacent regions, including Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, and the Guianas. Prefers terra firme and seasonally flooded (várzea) forests, edges, and mature secondary growth. It keeps to dense understory and midstory, sometimes near natural clearings and along river corridors. Generally local and easily overlooked due to its quiet, skulking habits.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The pavonine cuckoo is one of only a few Neotropical cuckoos that are obligate brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds. It is secretive, often detected by its haunting, whistled song, and it displays by fanning a long tail marked with bold white spots. Its name “pavonine” refers to the peacock-like effect of its tail patterning during displays.
Temperament
secretive and skulking
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with brief glides
Social Behavior
Mostly solitary and inconspicuous, moving quietly through dense understory. It is an obligate brood parasite, laying eggs in the nests of smaller passerines, often flycatchers or antbirds, and may remove or damage host eggs. Displays include tail-fanning and crest-raising during territorial and courtship interactions.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is a series of clear, mournful whistles that can carry far, often descending and repeated in a steady rhythm. Calls may include soft clucks and harsher notes when alarmed. Vocalizations are often given from concealed perches, making the bird easier to hear than see.
Plumage
Upperparts dark with a slight greenish gloss; wings show warm rufous tones. Underparts buff to pale cinnamon with fine dusky barring on the breast and flanks. Long, graduated tail with large, rounded white spots that form an eye-like pattern when fanned; short, slightly shaggy crest.
Diet
Feeds primarily on large insects such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, and mantises. It may also take spiders and other arthropods and only rarely small vertebrates. Prey is gleaned from foliage or the ground and sometimes taken by short sallying flights.
Preferred Environment
Forages in shaded understory and midstory of primary and mature secondary forest, along edges, and near gaps. It occasionally attends army-ant swarms to capture flushed insects.
