Bird guideSahul Cicadabird

Woodland bird of eastern and northern Australia and New Guinea.

⚠️Not listed
🍃Indigenous: Cicadabird

At a glance

FamilyCuckooshrikes
SizeSmall
RarityCommon
HabitatFound in the canopy of a wide variety of forest, woodland, scrub, and savanna habitats.
Best timeMost reliable in Queensland from October to January.

Sounds

Sound sample
0:000:00
Recorded by Marc Anderson

Range map

Range map

2429visible hotspots
53092visible records
4states
Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence

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

Strong sexual dimorphism in plumage. Male dark slaty-gray, with black around bill, and black on wings. Female brown, with dark line through eye, extensive fine barring on chest and belly, and fairly plain brown wings (much browner and lacking the white wingbars of Varied Triller). Shows geographical variation, especially in female plumage.

Behavior

Found in the canopy of a wide variety of forest, woodland, scrub, and savanna habitats. Calls include a long (10-second) sequence of insect-like repeated buzzes (hence its name), also a slower version, and a robin-like sequence of clear whistled notes.

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