Mystery Bird no.4
Mkuze Falls Private Game Reserve (South Africa)

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These photos was taken on a field work drive on the Mkuze Falls GR. We spotted a cuckoo moving around on the ground. Our first thought was a hurt, juvenile cuckoo. The bird was most probably hurt when it flew into the fence nearby. We caught the bird ad checked it for serious injuries. The wings weren't broken and we released it again. We did take a few photos of the bird in hand.

Some ideas on the identification. This seems to be an adult bird, thus we were left with two possibilities. The cuckoo with the same markings according to Sasol is the Long-tailed Barred Cuckoo. The colouration fits, the eye colour fits (Sasol), the shape of the head and bill fits (Sasol) and the gizz seems to be on the right track. Critique on this id is the following. The colouration of the head is not right, the tail is to short and the distribution is way out. But this bird did have us excited.
The second option is a Common Cuckoo (Eurasian) Cuckoo. This was only picked up in the Sasol 3 Fieldguide and Birds south of the Sahara. The very rare, erythristic (red) form of this species is mentioned in Roberts Multimeadia 3 with two photos (Sometimes also referred to as hepatic form). Positives for this id. The colour also fits, the markings on the head fits (photos Roberts MM3), the distribution range fits and the lenght of the tail fits. Critique for this id is that the gizz according to Sasol (and Sub-Sahara Birds) is completely out. The bill looks different, the gizz seems to be more "dumpy".

Please e-mail me at birds@obenbosch.com with your opinion.

Please have patience with the download of the photos. I allowed the files to be a little bit larger than normal for a better quality image. Sorry for any time inconveniences.

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