Australian Biological Resources Study

Australian Faunal Directory

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CAVS: 0337

Species Heteroscenes pallidus (Latham, 1801)

Pallid Cuckoo

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

 

Generic Combinations

  • Cuculus pallidus (Latham, 1801).
  • Cacomantis (Vidgenia) pallidus (Latham, 1801).
  • Heteroscenes pallidus (Latham, 1801).

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia


Extra Distribution Information

All mainland Australia (except heavily forested coastal sectors and treeless deserts) and TAS—also islands in Bass Strait (King and Furneaux Group), Kangaroo Is., north coastal islands; vagrant on islands in Torres Strait, Christmas Is. and Lord Howe Is., also S New Guinea, Flores, Timor (resident?), Moluccas, and New Zealand.


Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.
IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)
drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

  • Australia
    • New South Wales
    • Northern Territory
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Victoria
    • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, crop, desert, diurnal, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low shrubland, low woodland, migratory, open forest, open scrub, sand plain desert, solitary, tall open shrubland, tall shrubland, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Less commonly sandhill desert, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, usually solitary, commonly perches on exposed bare brachlets and stumps, feeds on various insects by perch-and-pounce sallying, flies gracefully and directly with undulations, elevates tail on alighting, brood parasite parasitizing hosts that build cup-shaped nests, mainly honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), particularly species of Lichenostomus and Melithreptus, migrates erratically according to seasonal conditions, generally inland and north across N Australia in Jan.-Mar. after breeding and south to southern coasts and Tasmania in July-Aug. to breed, males arriving earlier than females and advertising territory by loud calling.

 

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Pallid Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 14: 58-62 (nidification)

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (synonymy)

Gentilli, J. 1949. Pallid Cuckoo observations, 1949. Western Australian Naturalist 2: 59-64 (behaviour)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (behaviour, diet, taxonomy)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts i-iv xii pp. 1-384 pls 325-362. [Date published 4 Mar. 1918: volume publication dated as 1918–1919; Publication of Pt 1 (4 Mar. 1918), Pt 2 (15 May 1918), Pt 3 (26 Aug.), Pt 4 (19 Dec 1918), Pt 5 (12 June 1919)] (morphology, nidification, behaviour, history)

North, A.J. 1912. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 3 vii 362 pp. (morphology, nidification, behaviour)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Shelley, G.E. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae-Cuculidae. London : British Museum Vol. 19 xii 484 pp. 13 pls. (synonymy and specific limits)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (extra Australian distribution)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (synonymy)

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
23-Sep-2013 CUCULIDAE 07-Oct-2015 MODIFIED
12-Feb-2010 (import)