in the winter months. It is a rare vagrant to New Zealand. The pallid cuckoo has been observed in various different habitats such as in woodland, shrubland, mangrove forest, pastoral country, farmland, golf courses and gardens. However it prefers lightly timbered country with trees and shrubs and a sparse under-story where it can best hunt for prey. Diet The pallid cuckoo predates primarily on insects such as caterpillars, by hopping down from vantage points to seize their prey either on trees or in the grass. It prefers to eat hairy caterpillars. Breeding Breeding of the pallid cuckoo occurs between July and December. The pallid cuckoo is a generalist brood parasite. Brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other species, abandoning their egg and leaving it to the care of the host bird whose nest it is in. If the host does not detect the intrusion and subsequently reject the egg it will raise the resulting chick as its own. It is recorded to have exploited over 100 different species of passerines, though all major hosts belong to the family Meliphagidae. Common host species include honeyeaters, Australasian robins and willy wagtails. References pallid cuckoo pallid cuckoo Birds of Australia pallid cuckoo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN