White-browed Coucal - BirdForum Opus

Adult
Photo © by peterday
Sof Omar, Ethiopia, 04/11/2013

Centropus superciliosus

Identification

Juvenile nominate ssp
Photo © by mikemik
Serengeti, Tanzania, May 2018

36–42 cm (14-16½ in)

• Dark brown head
• Broad white supercilium
• Creamy underparts
• Long tail

Subspecies superciliosus
Photo © by mikemik
Tarangire, Tanzania, April 2018

Similar Species

Burchell's Coucal lacks the white superciliary stripe.

Distribution

Central, southern and eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Western Africa: DRC and Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Pemba Island, Mafia Island, Malawi, Zambia, and northwestern Mozambique
Southern Africa: northern Namibia, northern Botswana, northern Zimbabwe
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Socotra

Taxonomy

Burchell's Coucal was formerly considered a subspecies of White-browed Coucal.

Subspecies

Subspecies superciliosus but of the population that formerly was named sokotrae
Photo © by ammadoux
Rijal Allmaa - Asir region, Southern Saudi Arabia, 1 July 2024

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

• C. s. superciliosus:

• from eastern Sudan to Ethiopia, western and central Somalia, Kenya, northeastern Uganda, and northeastern Tanzania; also Socotra Island and southwest Arabia

• C. b. loandae:

• from Uganda and southwest Kenya to northern Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Angola

Subspecies C. s. sokotrae is considered a synonym of superciliosus.

Habitat

Riverine bush and wetlands.

Behaviour

It can be difficult to see due to its habit of skulking in shrubbery, undergrowth and dense waterside vegetation.

Breeding

As with other Coucals, the White-browed Coucal is non-parasitic. The males construct a nest, they then incubate the eggs and provide most of the feeding and care for the young.

Diet

Puffed up behaviour
Photo © by rdavis
Near Xigera Camp, central Okavango Delta, Botswana, November 2011

It has a wide diet consisting mostly of insects, but it will also take young birds and eggs. While it will feed on the ground it is easily disturbed, returning to cover in a clumsy, awkward fashion. These birds are not elegant fliers!

Vocalisation

They have a very distinctive song which consists of a series of "gurgling" notes which resemble the sound of water being poured from a bottle and gives them their local Kenyan name of "The Water Bottle Bird".

References

1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2016)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) White-browed Coucal. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-browed_Coucal

External Links

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