Pheasant Coucal Centropus phasianinus attacking birds caught in a mist net.

On 17 July 1990 we visited the Pacific Adventist College (PAC), National Capital District, in the hope of catching some Mannikins Lonchura spp. We set a 20 m, 4-panel mist net at a site where mannikins had been observed feeding on the ground. We then left the net for an hour. On our return we had caught 12 birds (10 Grey-headed Mannikins L.caniceps and 2 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins L.castaneothorax). Two Pheasant Coucals Centropus phasianinus had been attracted to the net, presumably by the flutterings of the trapped mannikins. One of the coucals was actually in the net but escaped as we approached. It had attacked and killed two juvenile Grey-headed Mannikins by pecking at the head and neck, but had not been able to get the mannikins out of the net. After extracting the birds, we again left the net. RR returned after about half-an-hour. We had caught no more birds, but a Pheasant Coucal was sitting close by the net where it was apparently visible to the mannikins as these were now flying higher than they had earlier and so missed the net.

Previously, RH had noted Pheasant Coucals sitting under mist nets set in his garden on Matirogo Point, Port Moresby, but no birds had been found dead in the nets.

(Originally published in Muruk, co-authored with Robin Restall)