CreatureData

Buff-headed coucal

Centropus milo Gould, 1856

LCLeast Concernbirds

The buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo) is a species in the family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes. Recorded adults weigh 767.5 g to 769 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo)
Photo: John Gould · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the buff-headed coucal

Weight
769 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the buff-headed coucal live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The buff-headed coucal is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the buff-headed coucal?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo) is a species of coucal. These are often placed in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) but seem to warrant recognition as a distinct family. C. milo is a common endemic of the central islands of the Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland and mountain forests, mostly in primary and secondary growth.

This species is a large cuckoo with a heavy bill and short wings. In total length, this species may measure 60 to 69 cm (24 to 27 in). With a body mass of 769 g (1.695 lb), this may be not only the largest coucal, apparently outweighing other very large coucals like the goliath coucal, but possibly the largest of all cuckoos, with a slightly higher cited weight than even the channel-billed cuckoo, usually considered the world's largest cuckoo. The plumage of adults is striking with a buff head, upper back and undersides, and glossy black wings, lower back and tail. The iris is red and legs and bill are dark grey. Juveniles are very differently colored, with the wings and tail reddish brown with black barring somewhat like in the allopatric pheasant coucal, and the rest of the plumage brown mottled with black. The iris is brown-grey and the bill is bicolored, brown above and pale horn below.

In local languages, the adult and juvenile are treated as different kinds of bird and each has a name of its own. For example, in Touo, Roviana and Marovo, the adult is called mozu, nao and ao, respectively, while the names for the juveniles are sagaza, sengenge and chehohu.

From the Wikipedia article “Buff-headed coucal” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buff-headed_coucal&oldid=1379733708), 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 buff-headed coucal endangered?

The buff-headed coucal 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 buff-headed coucal classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCuculiformes
  5. familyCuculidae
  6. genusCentropus
  7. SpeciesCentropus milo Gould, 1856
Other names and names in other languages (32)
  • كوكال برتقالي الرأسArabic
  • cucal cap-rosCatalan
  • kukačka MilovaCzech
  • kukačka šalomounskáCzech
  • cwcal pen llwydfelynWelsh
  • Lyshovedet SporegøgDanish
  • BlasskopfkuckuckGerman
  • okrakapa kukaloEsperanto
  • Cucal miloSpanish
  • saalomonisaarte kannuskäguEstonian
  • salomoninkukaaliFinnish
  • Coucal à tête fauveFrench
  • solomonski kukalCroatian
  • fakófejű bozótkakukkHungarian
  • Cucal testacamoscioItalian
  • キガシラバンケンJapanese
  • geltongalvė pentinuotoji gegutėLithuanian
  • SalomonsspoorkoekoekDutch
  • blekhodesporegjøkNorwegian
  • kukal płowogłowyPolish
  • cucal-douradoPortuguese
  • cucal-das-salomãoPortuguese
  • Бледноголовый кукальRussian
  • Светлоголовая шпорцевая кукушкаRussian
  • ostrohár plavohlavýSlovak
  • Žutoglavi kukalSerbian
  • beigehuvad sporrgökSwedish
  • Büyük Alaca KukalTurkish
  • Sarı göğüslü kukalTurkish
  • коукал вохристоголовийUkrainian
  • 黃頭鴉鵑Chinese
  • 黄头鸦鹃Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the buff-headed coucal

Other species in the same genus Centropus.

CompareBuff-headed coucal vs Greater coucalBuff-headed coucal vs Lesser coucalBuff-headed coucal vs Senegal coucalBuff-headed coucal vs Black coucal

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the buff-headed coucal?

An adult buff-headed coucal weighs 769 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the buff-headed coucal live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the buff-headed coucal for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the buff-headed coucal endangered?

The buff-headed 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 buff-headed coucal?

The buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo) 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.

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.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/buff-headed-coucal

MLA

“Buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/buff-headed-coucal.

BibTeX
@misc{buff_headed_coucal_2026,
  title = {Buff-headed coucal (Centropus milo)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/buff-headed-coucal},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}