Gray-bellied Cuckoo
Cacomantis passerinus
Rather small cuckoo of open forests and forest edge. Typical adult is gray all over. Some females are “hepatic” and are ginger-orangish with black barring on the back and on the undersides. Song is a high, fading “ki-keeeer...” often given either very early or very late in the day. Breeds in foothill and montane forests, but migratory individuals typically winter in lowlands.
Identification
The grey-bellied cuckoo is one of the smaller cuckoos, at a total length of about 23 cm. Adults are mainly grey with a white lower belly and undertail. There is a white patch on the wings. Some females are dark-barred reddish brown above with an unbarred tail and have strongly dark-barred whitish underparts. The juvenile resembles the female but is of a duller grey.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Cacomantis passerinus
- Authority
- (Vahl, 1797)
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
- Genus
- Cacomantis
Range and habitat
The grey-bellied cuckoo breeds in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to south China and Indonesia. It has been reported from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is a short-distance migrant, since birds at more northerly latitudes and on higher ground are summer visitors, leaving for warmer areas in winter. The species prefers light woodland and cultivated areas.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The grey-bellied cuckoo is a brood parasite and uses warblers as hosts. It lays a single egg. Its diet consists of a variety of insects and caterpillars. This is a noisy species, with a persistent and loud pee-pip-pee-pee call, with its tail depressed.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Peruvian Sierra Finch
Phrygilus punensis
Chunky finch-like tanager of high elevations. Males are yellow with a gray head, wings, and tail; females are similar but duller. Found in a variety of dry, open habitats including scrub, agricultural areas, and Polylepis woodlands. Often forages in groups on the ground, and may associate with other sierra-finches and similar species. Distinctive within its range; replaced by the similar Black-hooded Sierra-Finch farther south.
Pale Chanting-Goshawk
Melierax canorus
A tall, long-tailed, pewter-gray hawk with pink-orange legs and bill base. In flight the wing pattern is strongly contrasting, with pale inner hind wings and a dark tip. Pairs inhabit thornveld, steppe, and desert below 2000 m. Chanting-goshawks give a strong gull-like “kleeeu” call, hence their name. Dark Chanting-Goshawk prefers moister woodland, has darker flight feathers creating a uniformly colored wing, and always has a gray-barred rump; Pale Chanting-Goshawk is paler, with pale panels in the wings and an unbarred white rump.
San Andres Vireo
Vireo caribaeus
A hyperactive inhabitant of brush and mangroves; largely pursues insects near the ground and at moderate heights. This species has a green back that contrasts with a gray crown, white wingbars, and a yellow stripe from the upper bill to the eye. Its vocalizations include “chuck-a” given in a series, a buzzy “dzu-wheet” often given repeatedly, and a buzzy “zhe-zhe-juuu.”
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