Fan-tailed Cuckoo vs Grey-bellied Cuckoo: How to Tell Them Apart

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Cacomantis flabelliformis

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The fan-tailed cuckoo is about 25–27 cm (9.8–10.6 in) long. The fan-tailed cuckoo has a slate-grey head, back and wings, rufous underparts and barred black and white tail. Its eye is surrounded by a yellow orbital eye ring which helps to distinguish it from the smaller and paler brush cuckoo (C. variolosus) and the also smaller chestnut-breasted cuckoo (C. castaneiventris).

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Richard Fuller · Nocturnal flight call · Carindale, Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia · CC0

Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0

Grey-bellied Cuckoo

Cacomantis passerinus

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The grey-bellied cuckoo is one of the smaller cuckoos, at a total length of about 23 cm. Adults are mainly grey with a white lower belly and undertail. There is a white patch on the wings. Some females are dark-barred reddish brown above with an unbarred tail and have strongly dark-barred whitish underparts. The juvenile resembles the female but is of a duller grey.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by K L Vinay · Call, song · Bhupal housing Colony, Tirupati, Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Rison Thumboor from Thrissur, India · CC BY 2.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Grey-bellied Cuckoo.