SANParks.org Forums

Levaillant’s Cuckoo- Clamator levaillantii

Description: 40cm

Habitat: secretive; found in acacia woodlands and along water ways.

Food: mainly caterpillars, also beetle larvae and grasshoppers

got this shot near lower sabie. had to rescue the image in photoshop since the bird was in a shade.


Link to image

Took this one on Mahonie loop in Dec. I also need to bump this one up in Photoshop but havent got it yet so to bring out detail I had to overexpose .7 stop instead

Am I right in saying this is a Levaillant's Cuckoo? In the previous photo, the stripes go a lot furthur down the belly.

Correct Wac. Levaillant's Cuckoo is the only one with vertical striping on the chest.

Hi all

I put this bird as a Jacobin cuckoo in my trip report, but am not 100% sure if its striped or Jacobin???

There can be no doubt that this is a Levaillant's (Striped) Cuckoo. Nice shot.

In Mopani Camp on 30th April, I saw two immature Levaillant's Cuckoos following a group of 5 or 6 Arrow-marked Babblers, and being fed by them. I believe they were Levaillant's rather than Jacobin as Roberts VI cites Babblers as the normal host for this bird and no tailspots were apparent.

From these photos, admittedly not that clear, do you think that the identification is correct? Could these birds have come from the same nest, or would two different cuckoos have had to pick different babbler nests? I was surprised these birds were still dependent on the surrogate parents as they seemed to have reached adult size.