At the farm the Shining Cuckoo ("pipiwharauroa" or chalcites lucidus) is often heard but rarely if ever seen. Its distinctive high pitched call arrives back on the scene in late September/early October and stays throughout the summer into autumn.
Doing a bit of research, I've learned that the NZ subspecies winters in the Solomon Islands and Bismark Archipelagos. Their song is a series of double notes--some writers call them "ascending" or "rising," followed by one or two downward whistles. It's sufficiently distinctive that once recognized you will know it again when you hear it.
They are absentee parents, laying eggs in grey warbler nests and leaving them to incubate and raise their young.
The good news is that they are back again, yet another sign that spring has arrived.
p.s. not my photo, credit to Peter Woods from the UK who took this in 2009 while on a visit to Auckland. I have never seen one, only heard them!
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