The chestnut-breasted cuckoo (''Cacomantis castaneiventris'') is a species of

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

in the family

Cuculidae Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are someti ...

. It is found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Taxonomy

Three subspecies are currently recognised: * ''Cacomantis castaneiventris arfakianus'' ( Salvadori, 1889) – Parts of western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

. * ''Cacomantis castaneiventris weiskei'' ( Reichenow, 1900) – Eastern New Guinea. * ''Cacomantis castaneiventris castaneiventris'' ( Gould, 1867) –

Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to: Education * Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States * Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England * Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university Places * Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...

and the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

Description

The chestnut-breasted cuckoo is about long. Adults have a dark slaty grey-blue head, back and wings, deep rufous breast and underparts and barred black and white tail. Immatures are dull greyish cinnamon on the head and wings, grading to dull mid brown on the outer parts of the wings, and pale buff or cinnamon on the breast and underparts. The tail is barred mid brown and white. Both adults and immatures have a yellow orbital eye ring. The chestnut-breasted cuckoo is slightly smaller than the similar Sahul brush cuckoo (''Cacomantis variolosus'') and

fan-tailed cuckoo The fan-tailed cuckoo (''Cacomantis flabelliformis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Taxonomy Six subspecies have been recogni ...

(''Cacomantis flabelliformis''), but the breast and underparts of the adult chestnut-breasted cuckoo is much darker.

References

chestnut-breasted cuckoo Birds of New Guinea Birds of Cape York Peninsula chestnut-breasted cuckoo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Cuculiformes-stub