Centropus superciliosus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The white-browed coucal or lark-heeled cuckoo (Centropus superciliosus), is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It inhabits areas with thick cover afforded by rank undergrowth and scrub, including in suitable coastal regions. Burchell's coucal is sometimes considered a subspecies.
The white-browed coucal is a medium-sized species growing to 36 to 42 cm (14 to 17 in) in length. The sexes are similar, adults having a blackish crown and nape, a white supercilium, rufous-brown back, chestnut wings, blackish rump and black tail, glossed with green, with a white tip. The underparts are creamy-white, the eyes red, the beak black, and the legs and feet greyish-black or black. Juveniles have rufous streaking on the crown, a faint buff supercilium, barred upper parts and darker underparts.
The white-browed coucal is native to eastern and southern Africa, and the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Its range includes Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-browed Coucal sighting in Johannesburg on a given day, based on 184 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 87th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-browed Coucal in Johannesburg on a given day, against under 5% in February to August, the lowest months. Those are among Johannesburg's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-browed Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 13
Of the 13 cities where we can rate White-browed Coucal sightings, Johannesburg ranks 11th at under 5%. The best odds are in Mombasa (Kenya, about 50%), Kigali (Rwanda, about 30%) and Kampala (Uganda, about 20%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the White-browed Coucal that you can see in Johannesburg (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Dideric Cuckoo (about 10%) and Red-chested Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-browed Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Johannesburg (184 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.
