Centropus toulou
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Malagasy coucal or Madagascar coucal (Centropus toulou) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Madagascar and in the Seychelles, where it occurs on Aldabra and was formerly present on Assumption Island and Cosmoledo. Its natural habitats are dense vegetation in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, mangrove forests, rough grassland, marshes and reedbeds.
The Malagasy coucal is a medium-sized bird with the adult length being in the range 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in). The male is smaller than the female, weighing about 140 g (5 oz) to the female's 190 g (7 oz), but otherwise the sexes are similar in appearance. In breeding plumage the bird is black, glossed with green, except for the tips of its wings which are brown and its mid and lower back which are reddish brown. In non-breeding plumage the head, neck and throat are brown streaked with cream, the wings reddish brown, the uppertail coverts black with some pale barring, the tail blackish brown with faint barring and the belly blackish brown. The iris is red, the bill black in breeding plumage and pale in non-breeding plumage, and the feet are grey to black. The call is a descending... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berenty Reserve | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 4 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Coucal sighting in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, based on 364 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 83 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Coucal in Ankarafantsika National Park on a given day, against about 40% in April, July and September, the lowest months. Those are among Ankarafantsika National Park's wettest months, with about 220 mm of rain a month against almost none in August. January–March and May have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Madagascar Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Madagascar Coucal sightings, Ankarafantsika National Park ranks 2nd at about 60%. The best odds are in Berenty Reserve (Madagascar, about 80%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Madagascar Coucal that you can see in Ankarafantsika National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Crested Coua (about 70%), Red-capped Coua (about 60%) and Coquerel's Coua (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Madagascar Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Ankarafantsika National Park (364 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
