The call is a descending series of notes that sound like water pouring out of a bottle, and is often sung as a duet with the bird's mate.

[2] The Malagasy coucal is resident in Madagascar and in Aldabra in the Seychelles, to which it may have spread via the Comoros, although it has not been present in the latter in historic times.

It is found in a range of habitats including among undergrowth in both primary and secondary forests, woodland edges, clearings, palm groves, reedbeds, marshes, mangroves, rough grassland, paddifields and gardens at altitudes of up to 1,800 metres (5,900 ft).

Its diet includes large insects, spiders, molluscs and other invertebrates, geckos, skinks, chameleons and rodents, all of which it swallows whole.

The nest is a large, dome-shaped structure with an entrance at one end, hidden in dense vegetation within a few metres of the ground.