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Today at about 1:40pm, I was surprised to hear the call of a shining cuckoo whilst walking on The Terrace in Wellington City; about a ten minute walk to the north of Victoria University. This was very much a concrete jungle environment; could the call have been that of a starling mimicking the cuckoo's call?

I heard one last week and thought the same thing so spent some time tracking it down, and yes it was a shining cuckoo. Are these overwintering, late departing or early arrivals?

Hi everyone

My guess is overwintering, a few birds overwinter each year as I read on NZ Birds Online

Cheers

My workmate heard one down in Haast a week or so ago I believe. Was in the bush so unlikely to be anything else I’d have thought down there? Maybe?

Interesting that Dave saw one. It's common time for song thrush to do their shining cuckoo impression, so visual confirmation is really needed. I've not heard starlings doing anything convincing

Many years ago I remember hearing starlings doing shining cuckoo impressions, as I recall it was at least a couple of months before any cuckoos actually arrived. They had the upward slur thing down pat, but never followed it up with the downward slur, and they mixed those calls in with lots of other more usual starling noises, so there were never any real worries about misidentification.

In the last week or two starlings in my Waitakeres garden have been sounding as described above by David. Catches my attention every time!!
Phil Hammond
Wrybill Birding Tours NZ
Great Birds Real Birders

Cool. I'll listen to my starlings more closely. They do make a beautiful range of sounds.

East Tamaki Heights, Auckland

Heard 11.44 AM Today.

I heard my first Shining Cuckoo of the season calling on Valley View Track at Zealandia this past Wednesday (11 September). Definitely a Cuckoo call, was very loud and complete with downward slurs