This picture is really interesting to me.
When I was in Broulee over new year, I saw a bird for a moment whose jizz was fan-tailed/brush cuckoo. I saw it largely from behind and it was a dark browny grey. Little or no blotches. I also could not see an eye-ring.
A couple of days later, in the same spot, there it was again being fed by White-browed Scrub-wrens. This time I got a better look. Definitely no patterning on the back, wings or head; no eye-ring but lightly blothched on the breast and belly and clear striping under the tail.
So, it was further advanced than the juvenile colouring of black and tan blotches but still dependent.
Then, the question “what species”? Despite the lack of eye-ring, I concluded Fan-tailed because they are so much more prevalent down there and one was calling even while I was making these observations.
Looking at Margaret’s photo, two things strike me: still a bit of bronze patches on the wing and the suggestion of an eye-ring. Both different characteristics from my observation at Broulee.
So I remain uncertain as to what I saw: both the species and the development stage.
David Rosalky
I saw what I believe was a juvenile fan-tailed cuckoo on the Western side of Callum Brae this morning. Couldn’t get a decent pic, as he was there one second, gone the next. This is almost exactly the same location where I saw a fan-tailed cuckoo some years ago.
Margaret Leggoe
