Thick-billed Cuckoo ( Pachycoccyx audeberti, family: cuculidae)

thick billed cuckoo kruger national park birds The Thick-billed Cuckoo (Latin name Pachycoccyx audeberti) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 383 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 204 also a picture of the Thick-billed Cuckoo on page 204. The Thick-billed Cuckoo belongs to the family of birds classified as cuculidae.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Thick-billed Cuckoo is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Thick-billed Cuckoo in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Thick-billed Cuckoo : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

The Thick-billed Cuckoo is a bird a little bit bigger than a starling. The height of the Thick-billed Cuckoo is about 36 cms and its weight is about 80 gms

The male and female Thick-billed Cuckoo have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is grey.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is white.
  • Back is black.
  • Legs are yellow.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Thick-billed Cuckoo feeds in tree and shrub foliage mainly

Invertebrates

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Thick-billed Cuckoo takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Thick-billed Cuckoo is to use the nest of another bird. The surrogate family then raise the chicks. The bird lays eggs which are cream in colour and number between 1 per host

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Thick-billed Cuckoo are: woodlands and grasslands and riverine areas

You will normally see the Thick-billed Cuckoo by itself rather than in the company of birds of the same species.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Dikbekkoekoek

German ... Dickschnabelkuckuck

Portuguese ... Cuco-de-bico-grosso

French ... Coucou d'Audebert

Dutch ... Diksnavelkoekoek

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 383

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za