What to Know About the African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda?

The African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda is one of the African Uganda Bird Species seen during birding watching in Uganda. This is a native cuckoo species in Africa. It is an old-world cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.

The African Emerald cuckoo is found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, DRC, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In Afrikaans, this bird is known as “mooimeisei” which means “pretty girl”.

How Does the African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda Look Like?

The African Emerald Cuckoo is a short bird with average length of 21 to 23 cm and weight of about 35 grams. It has slim bill and brown-orange eyes.

The plumage of males is metallic green with exception of the bright yellow lower breast and abdomen. The tail feathers are striped with white.

The upperparts of females are brown, lower parts are green with white barred parts below

the African Emerald Cuckoo can camouflage in the greenery and is usually only heard rather than seen because of the mainly green color.

How Does the African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda Sing and Make Calls?

The African emerald cuckoo is usually identified by its distinctive call, a four-note whistle with the mnemonic device of “Hello Ju-dy.”

How Does the African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda Feed?

]It is mainly insectivorous and feeds mostly on caterpillars and ants. It occasionally eats some fruits. Foraging is mostly done in the middle and top layers of the canopy.

How Does the African Emerald Cuckoo in Uganda Reproduce?

Like others, the African emerald cuckoo is a brood parasite. Female African emerald cuckoos lays between 19-25 eggs on average per breeding season in the nest of other bird species.

They mainly breed in the rainy season, largely between September and March.