Animals

Breeding season: July to February, in the south. It is a nest parasite, like many other cuckoos. The female lays one egg in the host's nest. This egg can sometimes resemble the host's eggs in markings. The female cuckoo removes one of the host's eggs, or the newly hatched young cuckoo ejects the eggs or nestlings of the host. The host parents incubate the cuckoo egg and feed the young, up to several weeks after it fledges.

Breeding season: variable, usually ater rain. Clutch size 9-13. They breed in low, thick vegetation, in or near the water, along rivers and channels, and around billabongs and dams. The nest is a trampled platform of reeds, sticks and vegetation, with some down lining, which is built by the female. Females incubate the eggs alone.

Oviparous (egg laying) with a clutch size of two.

Breeding season: July to February. Clutch size is two to three. They live and breed in co-operative territorial groups of two to fifteen birds. Groups usually have a primary breeding pair along with several non-breeding birds. They help to build the nest (females do most of the building). Two types of nests are built: roost-nests (usually larger and used by the whole group) and brood-nests (for the breeding females). The large domed nests are placed in a tree fork 4-7 m high, made of thick sticks with projections that make a hood and landing platform for the entrance tunnel.

Breeding season: October to January. Males usually call while floating in open water. Eggs are pigmented and are contained within a floating jelly raft which later breaks up and sinks.

Breeding season: summer, autumn or winter. Females lay approximately 1000 eggs. Males call while floating in still water. They burrow beneath the soil surface during periods of water shortage and emerge only after heavy rains to breed. They most likely use leaf litter, fallen logs and ground cover vegetation as shelter whilst above ground.

Oviparous (egg laying) with clutch size of two. Active during the day. At night, they are found near external lights, where they hunt insects attracted to the light. When they mate, females retain the sperm over winter until it is fertilised in late spring to early summer.

Oviparous (egg laying) with a clutch size of two.

Breeding season: August to December. Clutch size two to four. They mate for life and maintain a home range of about 20-30 km square throughout the year. Pairs may hunt co-operatively, with one member, usually the male, scattering a flock of birds while the other swoops down to attack a particular individual. This co-operative behaviour is most often observed during the breeding season. Rather than building a nest, it lays its eggs in recesses of cliff faces, tree hollows or in the large abandoned nests of other birds. The female incubates the eggs, and the male hunts.

Breeding season: May to July. Clutch size is four. They breed in Japan and on the East Asian mainland, on dry grassy hillsides and forest clearings. They leave their breeding areas from August to November, arriving in Australia mainly in September. They leave the south-east by the end of February, moving northwards along the coast. Most have left Queensland by mid-April. The nest is a shallow depression lined with grasses and leaves. The female incubates the eggs.