African emerald cuckoo


The African emerald cuckoo is a species of cuckoo that is native to Africa.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

As a member of the Cuculidae genus, the African emerald cuckoo is an Old World cuckoo. There are four subspecies, namely C. c. cupreus, C. c. sharpei, C. c. intermedius, and C. c. insularum.

Distribution

Its range covers most of sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Description

The African emerald cuckoo is sexually dimorphic. The males have a green back and head with a yellow breast. Females are barred green and brown on their backs and green and white on their breasts. The African emerald cuckoo can also be identified by its call, a four-note whistle with the mnemonic device of “Hello Ju-dy.”

Diet

The cuckoo's diet consists many of insects like caterpillars and ants. The diet can be supplemented with some fruit, and the African emerald cuckoo often forages in the middle and top layers of the canopy.

Breeding

Like most cuckoos, the African emerald cuckoo is a brood parasite. Female African emerald cuckoos lay eggs in the nests of other bird species. A female cuckoo can lay between 19-25 eggs on average per breeding season.
The breeding season occurs during the rainy seasons, generally during the months between September and March. Even though the cuckoo do not need territory to feed fledglings, male African emerald cuckoos still maintain a territory to display itself to potential mates.

Conservation status and threats

The cuckoo's distribution is 11,400,000 km across sub-Saharan Africa, and subsequently the species is not in any immediate threat of decline. However, there is some concern about habitat reduction and fragmentation of riparian areas and lowland forests in the upcoming years.

Folklore

In the Zigula language its call has been rendered as ziwkulwa tuoge, ("let's go and bathe"