The shining cuckoo (shining bronze-cuckoo in Australia) is a summer migrant to New Zealand. It is common throughout New Zealand however, being small and cryptically-coloured, is more often heard than seen. It has a distinctive whistling call.
Two intriguing aspects of its life history are its brood-parasitic habits and the long annual trans-oceanic migration.
Shining cuckoos are present in New Zealand in spring, summer and autumn only, either breeding or on passage to or from breeding locations. Except for rare records of over-wintering birds, shining cuckoos from New Zealand spend their winters in the Bismarck Archipelago (New Guinea) and Solomon Islands.
The New Zealand subspecies breeds only in New Zealand (including Chatham Islands) but other subspecies breed in southern Australia, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and on Rennell and Bellona Islands (Solomon Islands). Ref: Birdsonline
Two intriguing aspects of its life history are its brood-parasitic habits and the long annual trans-oceanic migration.
Shining cuckoos are present in New Zealand in spring, summer and autumn only, either breeding or on passage to or from breeding locations. Except for rare records of over-wintering birds, shining cuckoos from New Zealand spend their winters in the Bismarck Archipelago (New Guinea) and Solomon Islands.
The New Zealand subspecies breeds only in New Zealand (including Chatham Islands) but other subspecies breed in southern Australia, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and on Rennell and Bellona Islands (Solomon Islands). Ref: Birdsonline
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