Long-tailed Koel
Urodynamis taitensis
Large cuckoo with horizontal spots and streaking and a very distinctive long tail. Mainly found in native and exotic forests during the breeding season where one or more of its target host species reside: Whitehead, Yellowhead, and Pipipi. Breeds only in New Zealand before migrating to tropical Pacific islands for winter. Difficult to observe up close. Gives a distinctive loud ascending screech “zzhweeet” which can be heard during the day or night as it migrates. There is potential for confusion with New Zealand Falcon; note the Koel’s straighter bill and distinctive long tail.
Identification
The long-tailed cuckoo is approximately 40–42 cm in length, with a wingspan of approximately 47–52 cm, and weighs about 120 grams. It has broad pointed wings and a long tail that is softly rounded at the tip. Its beak is short and stout with a slightly hooked tip. It has brown barring to brown upperparts, and dark streaking to white underparts. Both males and females share similar features. A juvenile cuckoo is markedly different from the adult: it is spotted, with buff underneath and on the sides of the head and neck.<p>Adult. Top of head and hindneck, dark brown, boldly streaked buff. Supercilium, White's, bordered below by bold dark-brown eye stripe continuing downsides of neck, cheeks, chin, throat and foreneck, whites with thin brown stripes and fine black streaking on near neck and throat. The remainder of the upperparts are brown with white spotting on wing. Tail is tipped white. The underbody is white with course black brown streaking. Legs and feet are gray to green.<p>Long-tailed cuckoo have a loud and intense sound, a "shrill whistle"; it is sometimes called the "screamer".
Taxonomy
Urodynamis taitensis is most closely related to the channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae), which lives in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, according to Sorenson and Payne (2005). Accordingly, it is not part of the Eudynamys genus (the true koels), with which it has previously been placed.
- Scientific name
- Urodynamis taitensis
- Authority
- (Sparrman, 1787)
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
- Genus
- Urodynamis
Range and habitat
Endemic to New Zealand, where they can be found on Little Barrier Island, the West Coast of the South Island, Nelson, and throughout the central North Island.<p>Long-tailed cuckoo prefer to live in forest on mainland and near shore or offshore islands, from sea level. in mountainous areas, more often on vegetated ridges than in valleys. Usually in dense, closed canopy of native forests dominated by beech Nothofagus, broadleaf species or podocarps or mixtures, with or without shrub layer. Usually surrounded by plantations of Pines (Pinus). Can be around other vegetation such as manuka Lepotospermum scoparium by rivers or forests or mountainous areas. Occasionally can be found in recreational parks, residential areas and gardens.<p>In New Zealand the cuckoos live mainly in native forest, particularly up in the canopy. They also live in exotic pine plantations, scrub, cultivated land and suburban gardens. In the Pacific islands they live in lowland forest, gardens and coconut plantations. Individuals are usually solitary.<p>The long-tailed cuckoo breeds only in New Zealand, where it is resident in the warmer months, from early October until February or March, sometimes April and occasionally later. The length of an average one-way journey from New Zealand to Polynesia is around 2500-3500 kilometers and thus travel over 6000 kilometers. For winter it migrates to islands right across the southern Pacific. It is found year-round on the Kermadec Islands, the Norfolk Island group and the Lord Howe Island group, which are subtropical islands part way between the New Zealand mainland and the tropical Pacific Islands. The spread of its winter distribution is extraordinarily wide, stretching almost 11,000 km from Palau in the west to Pitcairn Island. Over most of its winter range, it is known by the indigenous name, kārewarewa (or local variations of this). In spring, the bird's routes of migration would almost certainly have served to guide the Polynesian ancestors of Māori to find New Zealand.
- Breeding range
- AU : North, South and Stewart is. and satellites (New Zealand)
- Non-breeding range
- c, s tropical Pacific, from Palau (w Caroline Is., w Micronesia) to Pitcairn group (se Polynesia)
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Fire-bellied Woodpecker
Chloropicus pyrrhogaster
A large, long-billed woodpecker with an olive back, a red rump, a bold facial pattern, and heavily marked underparts with a bright red central belly stripe. The crown and back of the head are black in the female and red in males. Forages alone or in pairs, preferring dead tree trunks where it can excavate for beetle larvae and other insects in lowland rainforest, gallery forest, and plantations. Calls include a sharp “kwip,” a series of similar notes, and a fast whinnying call. Also gives a distinctive drum that lasts about 2 seconds, beginning fast and then slowing. Similar to Bearded and Yellow-crested Woodpeckers, but there is very little overlap in range, and those species lack the red belly patch.
Crimson Topaz
Topaza pella
Large, distinctive hummingbird. Superb male is mostly red and essentially unmistakable; female best told by large size and mostly green plumage with orange outer tail feathers. Found in lowland forest, usually along blackwater creeks in forests with sandy soils. Nests on low vegetation overhanging water. Very noisy and aggressive in territorial defense; loud, smacking calls are often heard before the birds are seen.
Southern Tropical Pewee
Contopus cinereus
Small, gray flycatcher lacking strong markings. Note its peaked crown and yellow lower half off bill. Some birds may show faint wingbars and a slight yellowish cast to the belly. Little overlap with other pewees; in the Andes it might be found together with Eastern Wood-Pewee or Western Wood-Pewee during the northern winter. Southern Tropical Pewee has shorter wings, a longer tail, and may show a faint spot between the bill and eye. Voice is the most reliable way to separate them. Listen for an explosive “CHIpeer” as well as a series of sharp chip notes. Typically encountered at forest edge or in clearings. Often perches on an exposed branch, from which it flies out to chase insects in looping, acrobatic sallies.
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