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Captain Arthur Phillip wrote of this (at the time) mysterious bird—calling it the 'psittaceous hornbill'—in his 1789 work The voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay , consulting with ornithologist John Latham and deliberating that it had features of a parrot, hornbill or toucan, though conceding there were no toucans in the region.
Not listed
Indigenous: Dhuwaanbay
At a glance
FamilyCuckoos
SizeLarge
RarityCommon
HabitatClosed forest, Grassland, Open woodland, Sparse woodland, and Waterbodies
Best timeMost reliable in Queensland from October to January.
Sounds
Sound sampleRecorded by Zebedee Muller
Range map
Range map
3288visible hotspots
109915visible records
4states
SparseModerateDense hotspot
Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.
Species notes
Overview
Gigantic cuckoo, with a red eyering and enormous pale beak. A mostly pale gray bird, with darker wings and tail. Spends the middle of the year in eastern Indonesia and New Guinea. Migrates to northern and eastern Australia over the austral summer.
Behavior
Flies around in the early morning calling strongly, and typically roosts in fruiting fig trees. Lays its eggs in the nests of other species, especially Torresian Crow and Pied Currawong.
Gallery