Walking through a Eucalyptus forest in eastern Australia, you might be lucky enough to hear a Fan-tailed Cuckoo singing. If you’re even luckier, you might actually spot the bird!

Their song is a pretty, descending trill, often uttered in a series of three trills. This video has the sound of the cuckoo, but I hadn’t yet seen the bird:

After some patient waiting, I managed to find the bird, beak wide open in song:

Unlike most cuckoos in Australia, the Fan-tailed Cuckoos stick around during winter instead of heading north for warmer climes. So you can hear their call throughout the year.

Here’s a frontal shot, giving a better view of the bird’s wide, barred tail and buff-coloured throat:

Adult Fan-tailed Cuckoos have a prominent yellow ring around the eye, as does this one. The bird is sitting huddled down on the end of a branch, perhaps enjoying a patch of sunlight in the cool winter morning:

Common name: Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Scientific name: Cacomantis flabelliformis
Approximate length: 26 cm
Date spotted: 25 August 2023 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’51.0″S 151°15’00.1″E