Aussie Finch Forum

Hi all
just took this photo, screeching above my house. Miner birds were attacking it. Flew away

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Thank you Storz, never seen it before. I get every year Common Koel nesting in the garden. Never seen this one. However I knew it is not a finch.

They parasitise crow & currawong nests.

Your pic is that of a juvenile

Video clip on JB's softbill site featuring a pair of crows feeding 5 young CBC's

Now that would be noisy . . and a lot of hard work for the crows

Always amazes me that while adult crows recognise adult CBC's and try to drive them from crow territory, they do not recognise the young birds as being 'different' . . yet other birds such as your miners do see the 'villains'

CBC eggs are very different from the eggs of the crow; but are reasonably similar to currawong eggs; but the crows don't see this either

One theory on why CBC's seem to prefer to parasitise crows over currawongs, despite the different egg coloration, is that because of forest clearing and thinning, currawong habit has decreased, while crow habitat has increased

The theory also has it that in the past the cuckoos favoured the currawongs, explaining the egg coloration; and that with evolution CBC eggs will eventually mimic those of their favoured hosts

A very interesting bird, the CBC

Thanks all for the info, in my area there is lots of Magpies with babies, never this bird.
Last year I had Currawong nesting in the garden and I captured young flying away with its parent. That was new for me too, so maybe these birds are coming to suburbs.

They are as common as buggery during the spring/summer months here in inner Sydney, they fly in 2s and 3s and sound like dinosaurs with the squawking sound and long wing beats. During the night when you you hear them it is not scary but sort of "wow" WTF is that? They are quite large and no wonder they are attacked by small birds, their main prey is nestlings and fruits. They are the largest parasitic birds in the world.

Cool.

Ken.