Chalcites basalis
The Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chalcites basalis) is a petite and enchanting member of the cuckoo family, distinguished by its vibrant iridescent bronze-green upperparts that shimmer in the sunlight. Measuring approximately 15-17 cm in length with a slender, slightly down-curved bill, its underparts are white with fine, dark barring, culminating in a striking rusty-orange vent and undertail coverts, a key identification feature. A prominent dark eye-stripe further enhances its facial markings...
This adaptable cuckoo frequents a broad array of open forests, woodlands, mallee, scrublands, and heathlands, often at lower to moderate elevations. It also readily colonizes urban parks and gardens with suitable tree cover.
Primarily insectivorous, its diet consists mainly of caterpillars, beetle larvae, and other soft-bodied insects, supplemented by spiders. It forages by gleaning prey from leaves and bark in the arboreal canopy.
Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo is a diurnal and generally solitary bird, though pairs may be seen during the breeding season. It forages actively, gleaning insects, particularly caterpillars, from foliage and branches, often with a quick, darting movement. As an obligate brood parasite, it exhibits no...
Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo boasts a broad and stable distribution across much of mainland Australia, including Tasmania. Its breeding range encompasses southern and eastern Australia, extending into Western Australia. During the austral winter, southern populations undertake extensive migrations n...
Least Concern
- Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo is an obligate brood parasite, meaning it never builds its own nest or raises its own young. - Its primary host species are small Australian passerines, particularly various species of thornbills and fairy-wrens. - The newly hatched cuckoo chick, often blind and feathe...