Klaas’s Cuckoo
Chrysococcyx klaas
Woodland. Male entirely bright green above, bill to tail; white below; eyes dark. Female duller; green above; white below; heavily banded brown; eyes yellow.
Cuckoos
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common summer resident, some present all year. Male differs from [Diederik Cuckoo] in having a white mark behind the eye only and no white wing markings; also dark eyes, green bill and white outer tail-feathers. Female differs from female of [African Emerald Cuckoo] in white mark behind the eye and finer, darker barring below. The call is a mournful ‘hueet-jie’ repeated five or six times. Usually occurs singly in a variety of wooded habitats including well-wooded suburbia. Parasitises a wide range of insectivorous passerine birds.
Quick Facts
Size
17 cm - S
Names
A: Meitjie
Z: umazalashiye
Ss: Ntetekeng Ya Mpasweu
G: Klaaskuckuck
Bird Family
Cuckoos are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, and the majority are absent from southern Africa during the period March-September. The related coucals are larger, more robust and mainly sedentary birds that build their own nests and rear young in the conventional manner.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
