Blue-headed Coucal Centropus monachus

Blue-headed Coucal Centropus monachus

Blue-headed Coucal, Auntutu Forest, Ghana, May 2011 - click for larger image

Ghana & Ethiopia
May 2011

The Blue-headed Coucal is distributed in tropical Africa south of the Sahara from Liberia to Ethiopia and south to Zaire. There is a distribution map at Birdlife International. It is generally found near swamps and marshes, on river banks and in sugar cane.

They are generalist feeders preying on insects, snails, frogs, lizards, snakes, small birds, bird eggs and small rodents.

It is similar to Senegal Coucal C. senegalensis but the head and mantle are glossy dark blue and the upperparts are darker chestnut contrasting with the more rufous primaries as can be seen in photo 3.

The song is series of hollow hoots with the first two notes shorter and normally with a pause before the rest of the series.

Blue-headed Coucal, Lake Awassa, Ethiopia, January 2016 - click for larger image

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