CreatureData

African cuckoo-hawk

Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, 1837

LCLeast Concernbirds of prey

The African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides) is a species in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. Recorded adults weigh 275.8 g to 277 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides)
Photo: C. G. Finch-Davies · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the African cuckoo-hawk

Weight
277 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
85 cm – 95 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Carnivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
32.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the African cuckoo-hawk?

AFRICAN CUCKOO-HAWK · WINGSPAN 95 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 95 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the African cuckoo-hawk is about 56% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the African cuckoo-hawk live?

Not recorded

What is the African cuckoo-hawk?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The African cuckoo-hawk, or African baza (Aviceda cuculoides), is a medium-sized raptor in the family Accipitridae so named because it resembles the common cuckoo. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa and along the eastern parts of Southern Africa, preferring dense woodland and forest of either indigenous or exotic trees.

From the Wikipedia article “African cuckoo-hawk” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_cuckoo-hawk&oldid=1381533307), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the African cuckoo-hawk endangered?

The African cuckoo-hawk is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the African cuckoo-hawk classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAccipitriformes
  5. familyAccipitridae
  6. genusAviceda
  7. SpeciesAviceda cuculoides Swainson, 1837

Synonyms Cymindis cuculoides

Other names and names in other languages (35)
  • ACHAEnglish
  • African cuckoo falconEnglish
  • African cuckoo hawkEnglish
  • African cuckoo hawkEnglish
  • KoekoekvalkAfrikaans
  • باز الوقواق الأفريقيArabic
  • baza africàCatalan
  • aviceda kukačkovitáCzech
  • luňákovec kukačkovitýCzech
  • cogwalchWelsh
  • Afrikansk BazaDanish
  • KuckucksweihGerman
  • KuckucksweiheGerman
  • afrika kukolagloEsperanto
  • Baza africanaSpanish
  • Baza africanoSpanish
  • aafrika tutthaugasEstonian
  • afrikantöyhtöhaukkaFinnish
  • Baza coucouFrench
  • Faucon-coucouFrench
  • afrikai kakukkhéjaHungarian
  • アフリカカッコウハヤブサJapanese
  • afrikinis kuoduotasis vanagasLithuanian
  • Afrikaanse KoekoekswouwDutch
  • gjøkbazaNorwegian
  • czubak afrykańskiPolish
  • Falcão-cucoPortuguese
  • gavião-cuco-africanoPortuguese
  • Африканская базаRussian
  • kochláč kukučíSlovak
  • Afrička bazaSerbian
  • Afrika BazasıTurkish
  • шуляк африканськийUkrainian
  • 西非鵑隼Chinese
  • 非洲鹃隼Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the African cuckoo-hawk

Other species in the same genus Aviceda.

LC, Least Concern
Black baza (Aviceda leuphotes)

Black baza

Aviceda leuphotes

Accipitridae

LC, Least Concern
Pacific baza (Aviceda subcristata)

Pacific baza

Aviceda subcristata

Accipitridae

CompareAfrican cuckoo-hawk vs Black bazaAfrican cuckoo-hawk vs Jerdon's bazaAfrican cuckoo-hawk vs Pacific bazaAfrican cuckoo-hawk vs Madagascar cuckoo-hawk

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the African cuckoo-hawk?

An adult African cuckoo-hawk weighs 277 g and has a wingspan of 85 cm – 95 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the African cuckoo-hawk endangered?

The African cuckoo-hawk is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the African cuckoo-hawk?

The African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides) belongs to the family Accipitridae in the order Accipitriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cuckoo-hawk

MLA

“African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cuckoo-hawk.

BibTeX
@misc{african_cuckoo_hawk_2026,
  title = {African cuckoo-hawk (Aviceda cuculoides)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-cuckoo-hawk},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}