Fan-tailed Cuckoo

1. Bright yellow eye-ring against a dark grey face.

2. Bold white notching and barring on the underside of the tail.

3. A distinctive descending trill call often used to locate the bird.

The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a brood parasite, laying a single egg in the nests of smaller birds such as thornbills, scrubwrens, and fairy-wrens. The cuckoo chick hatches earlier than the host's eggs and ejects them from the nest, leaving the foster parents to raise it. These birds feed primarily on insects, particularly hairy caterpillars, which they catch on the ground or in flight. Tasmanian populations migrate to mainland Australia during winter.

Fan-tailed Cuckoos inhabit forested areas with dense understory, including wet eucalypt forests, rainforest edges, and wooded gullies. They are often found perched in the mid-story of trees and are most vocal during the breeding season (August to December in eastern Australia). They may also visit parks and gardens with mature trees, particularly in spring.