Macropygia phasianella
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The brown cuckoo-dove (Macropygia phasianella) is a dove in the genus Macropygia found in Australia from Weipa and Aurukun in the north to Bega in the south, and most inland at Atherton and Toowoomba. It is sometimes called the "brown pigeon" or "pheasant pigeon", but both terms are best avoided, as they can lead to confusion with the brown doves and the true pheasant pigeon. It was one of three new species defined when the slender-billed cuckoo-dove was split in 2016.
The brown cuckoo-dove was formally described in 1821 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck from a specimen collected near Port Jackson in New South Wales, Australia. He coined the binomial name Columba phasianella. The specific name is a diminutive of the Latin phasianus, meaning "pheasant". The brown cuckoo-dove is now placed in the genus Macropygia, which was introduced by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1837.
Three subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healesville Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Australian Reptile Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Sea Life Sydney Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Wild Life Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Dallas World Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Cuckoo-Dove sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 436 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June–August and October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Cuckoo-Dove in Daintree National Park on a given day, against about 10% in April and November–February, the lowest months. Those are among Daintree National Park's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain a month against 380 mm in January.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Cuckoo-Dove sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Brown Cuckoo-Dove sightings, Daintree National Park ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in Lamington National Park (Australia, about 50%) and Springbrook National Park (Australia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Columbidae
The closest relatives of the Brown Cuckoo-Dove that you can see in Daintree National Park (family Columbidae, Pigeons and Doves) are Bar-shouldered Dove (about 50%), Wompoo Fruit Dove (about 50%) and Torresian Imperial-Pigeon (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Cuckoo-Dove is recorded against all the birds logged in Daintree National Park (436 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.
