Cuculus clamosus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The black cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. The species is distributed widely across sub-Saharan Africa. There are two subspecies. This cuckoo has a very wide range and is quite common so it is classified as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The black cuckoo is a medium-sized cuckoo. The sexes are similar, the plumage varying by subspecies; Cuculus clamosus clamosus has upper parts black glossed with green, slatey-grey wings and black tail tipped with white and sometimes with the outer feathers barred or spotted with white or buff; Cuculus clamosus gabonensis is mostly black with a red throat and black and white barring on the belly.
The subspecies Cuculus clamosus gabonensis is a resident in Central Africa, whereas the Southern African subspecies Cuculus clamosus clamosus is migratory, breeding in Southern Africa in September to December, then moving in March to Central, Eastern and West Africa. The range of this species extends from Liberia to Ethiopia in the east and Angola and South Africa. It is a woodland bird but avoids the interior of dense forests... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Cuckoo sighting in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 250th most-seen of the 345 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.
November and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Cuckoo in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to October, the lowest months. Those are among Tsavo East National Park's wettest months, with about 120 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in July.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black 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.
19th of 37
Of the 37 parks where we can rate Black Cuckoo sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 19th at under 5%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 10%), Kibale National Park (Uganda, about 10%) and Semuliki National Park (Uganda, about 10%).
Same genus: Cuculus
The closest relatives of the Black Cuckoo that you can see in Tsavo East National Park (genus Cuculus, Typical Old World Cuckoos) are Red-chested Cuckoo (about 10%) and Common Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo East National Park (23 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.
