Diederik Cuckoo in The Gambia

Chrysococcyx caprius

Overview

The Diederik Cuckoo is a small, brilliantly coloured African cuckoo whose repeated call gives the bird its name. In The Gambia it is closely associated with weavers and other small seed-eating birds, whose nests it uses to raise its young.

Identification

The adult male has glossy green to bronze-green upperparts, clean white underparts, barred flanks and a red eye. White markings around the eye, along the crown and across the folded wing are especially useful. Females are usually duller and more coppery, while young birds can show spotted underparts, a reddish bill and bluish eyes. Compared with Klaas’s Cuckoo, the male Diederik shows a red rather than dark eye and more conspicuous white head and wing markings.

Habitat and behaviour

Look for it in open woodland, wooded savanna, bushy grassland, river margins, reedbeds, farmland and well-vegetated gardens. It feeds mainly on insects, including caterpillars, and often watches from an exposed branch before flying between trees. Its clear, carrying call—often rendered as “dee-dee-dee-diederik”—can reveal a bird that would otherwise be missed.

Breeding strategy

Like many cuckoos, the Diederik is a brood parasite: the female lays in another bird’s nest and leaves the host to incubate and feed the chick. Weavers, bishops and sparrows are frequent hosts. Research in The Gambia has examined how Village Weavers recognise unusual eggs, an ability thought to have evolved partly in response to parasitism by Diederik Cuckoos.

Birdwatching in The Gambia

Productive wooded and riverine areas can hold this species, particularly where active weaver colonies are nearby. The Janjanbureh area is especially relevant: field research there recorded Diederik Cuckoos around Village Weaver colonies. Listen early in the day, check exposed treetops and follow the commotion if a group of weavers begins mobbing a larger bird.

Field note

The voice is often the fastest route to an identification. Once the call is located, scan the highest open branches rather than dense cover. Females and immature birds are less immediately distinctive, so note the eye and bill colour, facial pattern and markings on the underparts. Lamin Jobaate can help visitors recognise its call and find productive habitat during a Gambian birding tour.

Photograph: Bernard DUPONT, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Would you like to see the Diederik Cuckoo in The Gambia? Tell Lamin your preferred dates and the birds you most want to find. He can shape a private itinerary around the season, habitats and your pace. Check dates and availability.