Black Coucal (Centropus grillii)
About the Black Coucal
The black coucal (Centropus grillii) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution in Africa south of the Sahara. The male black coucal is 30 cm (12 in) in length while the female is 34 cm (13 in), otherwise they are similar in appearance. In breeding plumage the head, body and tail are black, apart from some buff barring on the rump, and the wings are rufous. Outside the breeding season, the upper parts are dark brown with rufous barring. The eyes are brown and the beak and legs are black. Juveniles are rufous with various dark and light barring and streaking.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 12 recordings for this species: 1 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Greater CoucalCentropus sinensisrecording
- Lesser CoucalCentropus bengalensisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.