New Zealand race of Shining Bronze Cuckoo in South-East Queensland

Female Shining Bronze Cuckoo race lucidus, Sunshine Coast

The New Zealand-breeding Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Chalcites ludidus lucidus, appears to be much more numerous in south-east Queensland than is generally believed. University of Queensland adjunct research fellow Richard Noske discusses the status of this likely contendor for a split in a paper just published in the Birds Queensland journal Sunbird. Richard points out that birds are recorded in Queensland and NSW mainly during March-April and September-October, coinciding with their presumed passage migration to and from wintering grounds in northern Melanesia. However, several records in June and July suggest some birds may over-winter in Australia.

Richard documents 38 records of lucidus since 2008 in South-East Queensland that are substantiated by descriptions or photographs. A further 22 records were listed in eBird, mostly from 2019, with no supporting evidence. The furthest inland records were from the Great Dividing Range and the northernmost record was from Bundaberg. Of 78 Shining Bronze-Cuckoos banded at 11 sites in South-east Queensland by Jon Coleman and his team since 2007, six birds (7.7%) from four sites were identified as lucidis.

Many birds are overlooked presumably because migratory birds would be largely silent and observers are generally unaware of the marked sexual dimporphism of the subspecies, so females would be passed off as our resident subspecies Chalcites lucidus plagosus. The great majority of records of lucidus lucidus in Australia are males. Another problem is that birders are not inclined to take much notice of subspecies. In similar fashion to the cuckoos, for instance, few look for the distinctive Tasmanian race of Striated Pardalote - a scarce but regular winter visitor to South-East Queensland. In the 1970s, I and others documented multiple records in the region of what was formerly called the Yellow-tipped Pardalote.

Shining Bronze-Cuckoos race lucidus, Sunshine Coast 

According to Richard: “Records since 2014 suggest that New Zealand lucidus is more common in South-east Queensland than previously thought, and… they visit just as much during their southbound (spring) passage, ie en route to New Zealand, as during their northbound (autumn) passage. In South-East Queensland, the earliest record during the autumn passage was 17 February, and the latest during spring passage was 26 October.”

Noting that a little known identification feature of lucidis is its wider bill, Richard concludes: Given our incomplete understanding of the occurrence of New Zealand birds in Queensland, I urge birders to check the identity of all Shining Bronze-Cuckoos they encounter, and if possible secure photographs, especially of their bills.”

I've seen lucidis occasionally in my Sunshine Coast garden. The birds in this post were in a loosely grouped flock of 4-5 that were conspicuous by their silence in the half hour or so that I watched them.