Burchell's coucal
Centropus burchellii Swainson, 1838
Status not recordedbirds
The burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii) is a species in the family Cuculidae, order Cuculiformes. Recorded adults weigh 153.1 g to 167 g.
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Quick facts about the burchell's coucal
- Weight
- 153.1 g – 167 g
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 15.5 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2.5
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the burchell's coucal live?
Not recorded
Is the burchell's coucal endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the burchell's coucal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCuculiformes
- familyCuculidae
- genusCentropus
- SpeciesCentropus burchellii Swainson, 1838
Synonyms Centropus burchelli, Centropus pymi, Centropus superciliosus pymi
Other names and names in other languages (25)
- Gewone VleiloerieAfrikaans
- kukačka bělohrdláCzech
- KapsporegøgDanish
- BurchellkuckuckGerman
- burĉela kukaloEsperanto
- Cucal de BurchelSpanish
- lõuna-kannuskäguEstonian
- Coucal de BurchellFrench
- Cuculo fagiano di BurchellItalian
- ズグロバンケンJapanese
- Burčelio pentinuotoji gegutėLithuanian
- Burchells SpoorkoekoekDutch
- busksporegjøkNorwegian
- kukal białogardłyPolish
- cucal-de-burchellPortuguese
- Южноафриканский кукальRussian
- ostrohár bielohrdlýSlovak
- burchellsporrgökSwedish
- коукал південно-східнийUkrainian
- 布氏鴉鵑Chinese
- Cucal de BurchellSpanish
- cucal-de-moçambiquePortuguese
- Шпорцевая кукушка БурчеллиRussian
- moçambiquesporrgökSwedish
- 布氏鸦鹃Chinese
Relatives of the burchell's coucal
Other species in the same genus Centropus.

Greater coucal
Centropus sinensis

Lesser coucal
Centropus bengalensis

Senegal coucal
Centropus senegalensis

Black coucal
Centropus grillii

Andaman coucal
Centropus andamanensis

Black-faced coucal
Centropus melanops
CompareBurchell's coucal vs Greater coucalBurchell's coucal vs Lesser coucalBurchell's coucal vs Senegal coucalBurchell's coucal vs Black coucal
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the burchell's coucal?
An adult burchell's coucal weighs 153.1 g – 167 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the burchell's coucal?
The burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii) 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.
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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 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - 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). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - 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).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/burchells-coucal
“Burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/burchells-coucal.
@misc{burchells_coucal_2026,
title = {Burchell's coucal (Centropus burchellii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/burchells-coucal},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}