I was walking in our neighborhood around 7 a.m. the other day and noticed a commotion of sorts in the middle of a terminalia (umbrella) tree. Turned out to be a pair of Levaillant's Cuckoos (both light-morph, with mostly white underparts), one of the more spectacular of East Africa's crested cuckoos. It was my first time to see them definitely, too, which made it even more enjoyable, especially as I've been looking for one for several years. I don't think they're all that uncommon, but as with many cuckoo species, they tend to be wanderers and one never knows where they may turn up. At 16 inches / 40 cm in length, and with crest and striking black and white plumage, they make quite a visual splash.
A few weeks ago a dark-morph crested-type cuckoo passed through our yard, harvesting hairy caterpillars out of the musizi trees. I didn't see it well enough to be certain whether it was a Jacobin (Black-and-white) Cuckoo or a Levaillant's, since the dark morphs of the two species are very similar.
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