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Centropus phasianinus melanurus
A large 'pheasant-like', ground-dwelling cuckoo, the Pheasant Coucal has a long tail and short rounded wings. In its breeding plumage, it has a black head, neck and underbody with the upperparts and wings reddish-brown with black and cream barring and the black tail is barred orange. Out of breeding, the head and back return to a reddish chestnut colour and the underparts are cinnamon brown, with all streaked boldly white. The eye is red. Sexes are similar in plumage, but females are larger than males.
Running around in my front yard chasing grasshoppers to feed the two young ones.
This is the spotting of one of the young ones: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/144... Interesting fact: This is the only member of the cuckoo family that actually builds its own nest and raises its own young! My partner and I were sitting in the loungeroom and could hear this incessant hissing sound. Eventually I got up to look out of the window and there was an adult with two young! I watched the adult run around and catch grasshoppers and feed them! I'm not sure if the adult was a male or female. First reference for identification: The Michael Morcombe eGuide to Australian Birds, Mobile App. Reference: http://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/phea...
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