Levaillant's Cuckoo

ID tip

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Levaillant's Cuckoo

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 7 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Levaillant's Cuckoo

The map shades 35 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Burundi, Sudan.

About the Levaillant's Cuckoo

Levaillant's cuckoo is a cuckoo which is a resident breeding species in Africa south of the Sahara. It is found in bushy habitats. It is a brood parasite, using the nests of bulbuls and babblers. It was named in honour of the French explorer, collector and ornithologist, François Le Vaillant.

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

Easily confused with

Chestnut-winged CuckooClamator coromandusThis dark and crested cuckoo has chestnut wings, a glossy black crest and a graduated tail (the feathers shortening in steps from the center outwards) whose terminal edges are white and inconspicuous unlike the white tips of the Jacobin cuckoo which is found in parts of its range. Great Spotted CuckooClamator glandariusThis species is slightly larger than the common cuckoo at 35–39 cm (14–15 in) in length, but looks much larger with its broad wings and long narrow tail. Jacobin CuckooClamator jacobinusThis medium-sized, slim black and white cuckoo with a crest is distinctive.

Side by side: Jacobin Cuckoo vs Levaillant's Cuckoo · Great Spotted Cuckoo vs Levaillant's Cuckoo · Lesser Ground Cuckoo vs Levaillant's Cuckoo · Chestnut-winged Cuckoo vs Levaillant's Cuckoo