White-browed coucal, Centropus superciliosus, sometimes known as Burchell's coucal, the lark-heeled cuckoo or as the rainbird, photographed at Awash National Park, Ethiopia (Africa).
Question: This Ethiopian mystery bird has a distinctive field mark that makes identifying it unambiguous. What field mark is that? As a bonus question, even though this bird's taxonomic family has a wide range of breeding systems, they are famous for one particular breeding strategy. What is that strategy? Does this species use that strategy?
Don't forget that this is the third of four Ethiopian mystery birds (here's the first one and the second one) that share two themes. One shared theme is they all were photographed in Ethiopia. What other theme do all these mystery birds share?
Response: White-browed coucal, Centropus superciliosus, a member of the cuckoo family. When most people hear the name, "cuckoo", they think of nest parasites -- birds that lay their eggs in other species' nests, leaving their chicks for these other bird parents to rear, often instead of raising their own chicks. However, the white-browed coucal is non-parasitic, a trait shared with other members of the subfamily, Centropidinae. In this species, the males construct the nest, and both parents share incubation duties as well as feeding and care of their young.
Even though this species is rather shy and retiring (but often heard crashing around in the underbrush), it is easily identified when seen, based on its bold cream-coloured supercilliary stripe ("eyebrow").
The southern subspecies, Burchell's coucal, is sometimes split into a separate species, Centropus burchelli. This bird's distinctive call, which resembles water pouring from a bottle, is said to signal impending rainfall according to South African lore. Thus, the southern subspecies is often known by the alternative common name, the rainbird.
Here is a video of a white-browed coucal calling (filmed 28 June 2010 in Kenya). The videographer writes that this bird's call "can be heard from far away, but locating it and filming it while it is calling is a bit trickier":
The birds calling at 1:07 were a pair of Trumpeter Hornbills, Bycanistes bucinator, that were flying over.
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