Centropus phasianinus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The pheasant coucal (Centropus phasianinus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Timor and New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It has adapted well to canefields in northern Australia. The pheasant coucal is unusual among Australian cuckoos in that it incubates and raises its own young instead of laying its eggs in the nest of another species.
The ornithologist John Latham described the pheasant coucal as Cuculus phasianinus in 1801, based on a drawing by Thomas Watling. Six subspecies are recognised, two of which are found in Australia with an abrupt demarcation between them occurring around the Burdekin River in Central Queensland. South is the nominate subspecies phasianinus, while north is the subspecies melanurus, which is larger in size and has darker and more prominent black bands on its rectrices. The little known subspecies mui is found in eastern Timor, and has distinctive white plumage of its upperparts, head and breast. The remaining three subspecies are found in New Guinea, and all have darker plumage than other forms. Subspecies... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Nitmiluk National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Territory Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Australian Reptile Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Gorge Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pheasant Coucal sighting in Brisbane on a given day, based on 1,916 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 78th most-seen of the 237 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Pheasant Coucal in Brisbane on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months. Those are among Brisbane's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain a month against 40 mm in July.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pheasant Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Brisbane, in our data
Brisbane is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Pheasant Coucal sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Pheasant Coucal that you can see in Brisbane (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Channel-billed Cuckoo (about 10%), Pacific Koel (about 10%) and Fan-tailed Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pheasant Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Brisbane (1,916 verified sightings), 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.
