Pachycoccyx audeberti
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The thick-billed cuckoo (Pachycoccyx audeberti) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is monotypic within the genus Pachycoccyx. It can easily be distinguished from other brood parasitic cuckoo species by its very thick bill, which is shaped in a rather hawk-like fashion.
In a molecular genetic study by Sorenson and Payne (2005), the thick-billed cuckoo appeared to be most closely related to the koels, consisting of the dwarf koel (Microdynamis parva) and the true koels (Eudynamys), although the evidence was not very strong and further research was required.
The thick-billed cuckoo is found in humid to subhumid woodlands and gallery forests from Guinea in the northwest to Mozambique in the southeast, though it is absent from large areas of the Congo Basin. It formerly occurred in the rainforests of northeastern Madagascar, but has not been reported from that island since 1922. In its southernmost regions the thick-billed cuckoo is partially migratory, spending the southern dry season in East Africa.
It is a typical cuckoo in terms of behaviour, feeding on hairy caterpillars, but also having a strong preference for grasshoppers... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-billed Cuckoo sighting in Kafue National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 318th most-seen of the 338 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-billed Cuckoo in Kafue National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April–November, the lowest months. Those are among Kafue National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain a month against almost none in June.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Thick-billed 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.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Thick-billed Cuckoo sightings, Kafue National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, under 5%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Thick-billed Cuckoo that you can see in Kafue National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Senegal Coucal (about 20%), Red-chested Cuckoo (about 20%) and Coppery-tailed Coucal (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Thick-billed Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Kafue National Park (6 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.
