Cercococcyx mechowi
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The dusky long-tailed cuckoo (Cercococcyx mechowi) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in forests in Central Africa. The IUCN has assessed it as a least-concern species. The species was described by Jean Cabanis in 1882. It is monotypic. The specific epithet mechowi honours Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow, a Prussian explorer. The name occidentalis for a population with different songs is a nomen nudum.
The dusky long-tailed cuckoo is about 33 cm (13 in) long and weighs 50–61 g (1.8–2.2 oz). The head, nape and upperparts are dark brown, washed sooty-grey and with a purple-blue iridescence. The wings are dark brown, with buff and white spots. The underparts are white, with blackish-brown bars, and the vent is buff. The tail is long and graduated. The eyes are dark brown, the beak is greenish-black and the feet are yellow. The male and female are alike. The juvenile bird has a blackish throat and rufous bars on its upperparts. The nestling's skin is black, and it has a yellow rump and pale feet.
This cuckoo has a discontinuous distribution and is found in Angola, most of Cameroon, the Central... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 3 | Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo sighting in Kibale National Park on a given day, based on 325 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 79th most-seen of the 366 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.
March to May
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo in Kibale National Park on a given day, against about 10% in September and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo sightings, Kibale National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 30%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo that you can see in Kibale National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Red-chested Cuckoo (about 40%), African Emerald Cuckoo (about 30%) and Klaas's Cuckoo (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Kibale National Park (325 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.
