Cuculus gularis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The African cuckoo or African grey cuckoo (Cuculus gularis) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa where it migrates within the continent, generally arriving and breeding in any one locality during the rainy season. A fairly common bird, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
This is a medium-sized species with a long tail, with a total length of 32 cm (13 in). Its dashing flight makes it resemble a bird of prey. The sexes are similar, the head, upper parts and wings being dark grey, the throat and breast pale grey and the belly white barred with dark grey. The tail is dark grey with dark barring and a white tip. The eye is yellow in the male and light brown in the female. The beak is yellow, tipped with black or horn. The legs and feet are yellowish. The juvenile has two colour forms; the grey morph is greyer than the adult with white barring, the underparts being creamy-white with dense dark barring; the hepatic morph is brown rather than grey, the white being replaced by buff or a tawny hue. The call of the male is a "coo-coo" with the second note... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Cuckoo sighting in Hwange National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 253rd most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Cuckoo in Hwange National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to October, the lowest months. That is one of Hwange National Park's wettest months, with about 120 mm of rain against almost none in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 28
Of the 28 parks where we can rate African Cuckoo sightings, Hwange National Park ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in Lake Mburo National Park (Uganda, about 10%), Meru National Park (Kenya, about 10%) and Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Hwange National Park (9 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.
