Black coucal
Centropus grillii Hartlaub, 1861
The black coucal (Centropus grillii) is a species in the family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes. Recorded adults weigh 100 g to 151 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the black coucal
- Weight
- 100 g – 151 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4 – 4.2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the black coucal live?
Not recorded
What is the black coucal?
The black coucal (Centropus grillii) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution in Africa south of the Sahara.
From the Wikipedia article “Black coucal” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black_coucal&oldid=1379847386), 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 black coucal endangered?
The black coucal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the black coucal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCuculiformes
- familyCuculidae
- genusCentropus
- SpeciesCentropus grillii Hartlaub, 1861
Synonyms Centropus grillii caeruleiceps, Centropus grillii grillii, Centropus grillii thierryi, Centropus grillii wahlbergi, Centropus thierryi, Centropus toulou grillii
Other names and names in other languages (38)
- African black coucalEnglish
- African black coucalEnglish
- BLCOEnglish
- SwartvleiloerieAfrikaans
- كوكال أسودArabic
- cucal africàCatalan
- kukačka černoprsáCzech
- cwcal brondduWelsh
- Korthalet SporegøgDanish
- GrillkuckuckGerman
- Grill-KuckuckGerman
- nigra kukaloEsperanto
- Cucal negroSpanish
- luha-kannuskäguEstonian
- mustavatsakukaaliFinnish
- Coucal noirFrench
- mali kukalCroatian
- fekete bozótkakukkHungarian
- Cucal nerastroItalian
- ムナグロバンケンJapanese
- 검은코칼Korean
- afrikinė pentinuotoji gegutėLithuanian
- Zwarte SpoorkoekoekDutch
- svartsporegjøkNorwegian
- kukal małyPolish
- cucal-pretoPortuguese
- cucal-preto-africanoPortuguese
- Чёрный кукальRussian
- Черная шпорцевая кукушкаRussian
- Чёрная шпорцевая кукушкаRussian
- ostrohár čiernySlovak
- Afrički crni kukalSerbian
- afrikansk sporrgökSwedish
- Kara kukalTurkish
- Afrika Kara KukalıTurkish
- коукал африканськийUkrainian
- 黑鴉鵑Chinese
- 黑胸鸦鹃Chinese
Relatives of the black coucal
Other species in the same genus Centropus.
Greater coucal
Centropus sinensis
Lesser coucal
Centropus bengalensis
Senegal coucal
Centropus senegalensis
Andaman coucal
Centropus andamanensis
Black-faced coucal
Centropus melanops
White-browed coucal
Centropus superciliosus
CompareBlack coucal vs Greater coucalBlack coucal vs Lesser coucalBlack coucal vs Senegal coucalBlack coucal vs Andaman coucal
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the black coucal?
An adult black coucal weighs 100 g – 151 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the black coucal endangered?
The black coucal 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 black coucal?
The black coucal (Centropus grillii) belongs to the family Cuculidae in the order Cuculiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Black coucal (Centropus grillii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-coucal
“Black coucal (Centropus grillii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-coucal.
@misc{black_coucal_2026,
title = {Black coucal (Centropus grillii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-coucal},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}