Shining Bronze-Cuckoo

1. Iridescent green upperparts with white underparts featuring dark green bars

2. Pale face without a dark eyestripe (distinguishing it from Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo)

3. A rising "coo-ee" whistle that repeats and carries through the forest

The Shining Bronze-Cuckoo is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of smaller birds like thornbills, fairy-wrens, and gerygones. After hatching, the young cuckoo pushes out host eggs or chicks to monopolize care from the foster parents. Most Australian populations migrate north to New Guinea and nearby islands during winter, returning south between August and October to breed.

Shining Bronze-Cuckoos inhabit the canopy of eucalypt forests and woodlands across Australia, favouring wetter regions with abundant caterpillarsone of their primary food sources. They are most active during spring and summer mornings when their calls can be heard echoing through the trees. Spotting them often requires careful scanning of higher branches for movement rather than relying on colour.