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The Red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) is a bird found in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Forests and woods across sub-Saharan Africa. It eats insects and other small invertebrates, reptiles and frogs and fruit. The IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern.

🏡 Where the Red-chested cuckoo lives

Forests and woods across sub-Saharan Africa.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐛 Insects & bugs80%
• 🦎 Reptiles & frogs10%
• 🍎 Fruit10%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Red-chested cuckoo

Recorded by Budongo Conservation Field Station (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC1025397. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Red-chested cuckoo

Where does the Red-chested cuckoo live?

The Red-chested cuckoo lives in South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Forests and woods across sub-Saharan Africa.

What does the Red-chested cuckoo eat?

insects and other small invertebrates (about 80%), reptiles and frogs (about 10%), fruit (about 10%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Red-chested cuckoo endangered?

There are plenty of these birds. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

More birds from Africa

• Braun's bushshrike
• Sharpe's longclaw
• Pulitzer's longbill
• Uluguru bushshrike
• Bernier's vanga
• Sokoke scops owl

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.