I'd say it was a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, probably higher in the canopy than
you thought. A single downward whistle (as you describe) is the
characteristic nocturnal call of that species. Against this ID, I haven't
noticed it to be lower in pitch than HBC, and in fact it is a faster call
than the rather long-drawn downward call of HBC. It is often given by
wintering birds or early migrants at night, rarely by day. Hope this
helps. Cheers, Richard.
on 08/09/99 12:15:14
To:
cc: (bcc: Richard Loyn/NRE)
Subject: birding-aus Mystery Night (?) Bird
Hi All
A teaser for all you night birdcall experts. Over the last few nights we've
had a bird calling (between about 11:00pm and 3:00am) which we can't
identify (or even spot! - it's very shy of torchlight and clams up as soon
as I shine it). It's call could be best described as a single note,
descending "choo", and seems to call from fairly low branches. There has
been a Pallid Cuckoo calling nightly for about a week or so, to our
surprise, but I've never heard one make this particular call before. There
are also Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos around, but this call seems lower than
their normal call. We live in a rural area about 25km north of Canberra,
comprising mainly open mixed-eucalypt woodland, if that helps. Any
suggestions would be most welcome.
David Cook
via Bungendore, NSW
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