Red-chested Cuckoo
Cuculus solitarius
A: Piet-my-vrou
Ss: Tlo-nke-tsoho
Z: uphezukomkhono

BIRD FAMILY
Cuckoos

SIZE
28cm (M)

HABITAT
Occurs in a variety of wooded habitats. Male calls from a high tree and often in flight when, in common with others on this page, it appears hawk-like. Parasitises mostly robins. Like other cuckoos, more often heard than seen.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Common summer resident and intra-Africa migrant. Told from other cuckoos by broad russet upper breast. Male calls from a high tree and often in flight. When in flight it appears hawk-like, a feature it has in common with Lesser, Madagascar, Common, African and Barred Long-tailed cuckoos. The well-known call of the male resembles the Afrikaans name ‘Piet-my-vrou’ or ‘quid-pro-quo’, loudly and frequently repeated; the female calls ‘pik-pik-pik-pik’.