Klaas's Cuckoo

Overview

Klaas's cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae native to the wooded regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The species was first described in 1806 by François Le Vaillant, who named it in honour of his Khoikhoi servant and assistant, Klaas, who collected the type specimen.

Identification

• Length of 16–18 cm with distinct sexual dimorphism.
• Males possess a glossy green body with few markings and plain white underparts, appearing largely white in flight with dark primaries.
• Females feature a bronze-brown body, greenish wing coverts, and faintly barred white underparts, appearing mostly brown in flight.
• Both sexes display a small white post-ocular patch.

Habitat

The species inhabits wooded regions throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of very arid areas in the south-west.

Did you know?

Klaas's cuckoo represents the first known case of a bird species being named after an Indigenous individual. It is also one of the few species named by a colonial biologist after a local person, following a tradition maintained from 1806 to the present binomial.