How do you identify a Gabon Coucal?

The Gabon coucal is a large-sized species growing to 46 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in length. Full identification notes are on this page.

How big is a Gabon Coucal?

The Gabon Coucal is a medium sized bird weighing about 210 g.

Where can you see a Gabon Coucal?

The Gabon Coucal occurs in 7 countries, including Congo - Kinshasa, Angola, Gabon, Congo - Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea.

What birds look similar to a Gabon Coucal?

The Gabon Coucal is most easily confused with the Violaceous Coucal, the Short-toed Coucal and the Buff-headed Coucal.

Is the Gabon Coucal endangered?

The Gabon Coucal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Gabon Coucal

Centropus anselli

Cuckoos · Cuculiformes · Legendary

The Gabon Coucal (Centropus anselli) is a legendary cuckoo found in 7 countries, weighing about 210 g. The Gabon coucal is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.

Least ConcernLegendaryEats invertebratesforest210 g

Gabon Coucal (Centropus anselli), photo 1 — Photo: bureaubenjamin · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Gabon Coucal (Centropus anselli), photo 2 — Photo: bureaubenjamin · CC BY 4.0

Gabon Coucal (Centropus anselli), photo 3 — Photo: (c) bureaubenjamin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

About the Gabon Coucal

The Gabon coucal is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is mainly found in Gabon but also occurs in neighboring areas of Cameroon, Angola, the Central African Republic, the western Congo Basin and Equatorial Guinea.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How to identify it

The Gabon coucal is a large-sized species growing to 46 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in length. The sexes are similar, the adult having the head, sides of neck and back black, glossed with purple, the lower back and rump whitish buff, barred with black, the wings dark brown and dark chestnut and the tail blackish-bronze glossed green. The underparts are rufous-buff or tawny. The eyes are reddish, the beak black and the feet black. The juvenile is similar to the adult but the black colouring is mostly replaced by dark brown and is unglossed, and the wings are heavily barred and rufous.

Where it lives

Congo - Kinshasa Angola Gabon Congo - Brazzaville Equatorial Guinea Cameroon Central African Republic

When to see it

Best months: January, February, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, with peak activity in September. It is a resident species across most of its range.

Easily confused with

Quick questions

How do you identify a Gabon Coucal?: The Gabon coucal is a large-sized species growing to 46 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in length. Full identification notes are on this page.
How big is a Gabon Coucal?: The Gabon Coucal is a medium sized bird weighing about 210 g.
Where can you see a Gabon Coucal?: The Gabon Coucal occurs in 7 countries, including Congo - Kinshasa, Angola, Gabon, Congo - Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea.
What birds look similar to a Gabon Coucal?: The Gabon Coucal is most easily confused with the Violaceous Coucal, the Short-toed Coucal and the Buff-headed Coucal.
Is the Gabon Coucal endangered?: The Gabon Coucal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Learn the Gabon Coucal for real

BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.

Play BeakBrain

Every photo and recording on this page is credited to its author under the licence shown. Spotted a problem with this page, or have a better photo? Contribute.