Cacomantis flabelliformis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The fan-tailed cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Six subspecies have been recognised:
Cacomantis flabelliformis excitus (Rothschild & Hartert, 1907) – Mountains of New Guinea. Cacomantis flabelliformis flabelliformis (Latham, 1802) – Eastern Australia from Cape York through to southern South Australia; south-western Western Australia.
Cacomantis flabelliformis meeki (Rothschild & Hartert, 1902) – Solomon Islands including Santa Isabel, Kolombangara, Guadalcanal and Bellona. Originally designated Cacomantis meeki. Cacomantis flabelliformis pyrrhophanus (Vieillot, 1817) – New Caledonia including the Loyalty Islands.
Cacomantis flabelliformis schistaceigularis (Sharpe, 1900) – Vanuatu. Cacomantis flabelliformis simus (Peale, 1848) – Fiji. The fan-tailed cuckoo is about 25–27 cm (9.8–10.6 in) long. The fan-tailed cuckoo has a slate-grey head, back and wings, rufous underparts and barred black and white tail. Its eye is surrounded by a yellow orbital eye ring which helps to distinguish it from the smaller and paler brush... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maria Island National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Flinders Chase | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Freycinet National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 14 | Flinders Ranges National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 15 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 16 | Hattah-Kulkyne National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 17 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Cuckoo sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 317 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 114th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Fan-tailed Cuckoo in Sydney on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months. That is one of Sydney's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 130 mm in February.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fan-tailed Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Fan-tailed Cuckoo sightings, Sydney ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Brisbane (Australia, about 10%) and Melbourne (Australia, under 5%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo that you can see in Sydney (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Pacific Koel (about 20%) and Channel-billed Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fan-tailed Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Sydney (317 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.
