Bronze-cuckoo, Port Douglas, Australia. (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone. Going through photos of some of the trips I've been on in the last few years, I came across this Bronze-cuckoo. It was taken in Port Douglas, Queensland, in September 2009 and the birding guide who was with me at the time said it was a Gould's. At the time he was preoccupied in trying to find a Frogmouth so didn't really pay much attention to it, and reading a book soon after the trip it suggested it could be something else (for the life of me, I can't remember right now what it did suggest).

I am inclined to trust him because he's a very experienced pro (and I'm a very inexperienced amateur), but if anybody else could confirm Gould's or something else, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

To me this bird looks like a Little Bronze Cuckoo in this shot. I can't see any of the rusty tones on the ups, breast sides or supercilium that I'd expect to see on a Gould's.

Looks like a Little to me as well.

Red-eye ring means it is either a Little Bronze-Cuckoo or a Goulds Bronze-Cuckoo.
These are lumped in some lists (e.g. Christidis & Boles 2008).

There are 2 great comparison photos at the bottom of Graeme Chapman's web page

http://http://graemechapman.com.au/cgi-bin/viewphotos.php?c=35&pg=2

Your shot looks more like a Little to me - but I have no idea of their distribution around Port Douglas compared to Goulds.


Cheers
Mat

It's a Little Bronze Cuckoo, the default Bronze Cuckoo for the Cairns area (bearing in mind that Little and Gould's are conspecific), though probably of the nominate minutillus race, once called the Little Bronze Cuckoo, separate from the more abundant local Gould's Bronze Cuckoo, which has much browner plumage tones.

Phil Gregory who consults for the IOC is a friend of mine and he lives locally. He is also a world expert on this species complex. He is a proponent of many splits which have taken place recently but is adamant that these two birds are conspecific, largely due to the complex breaking down completely in New Guinea.

Yet despite this many foreign birders still cling on to the hope that they may be separate species so that they get an extra tick. I don't deny that it irritates me a great deal that some of them so readily dismiss Phil's expertise.

Thanks everybody for the information.