Bay-breasted Cuckoo
Coccyzus rufigularis
A large cuckoo with an impressive tail and a rich maroon throat and breast. Found in low-to-moderate elevation deciduous woodlands. The similarly shaped Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo is smaller, has a longer and straighter bill, and is gray on the chest. The most common vocalization is a “ooo-whaaa,” given in a series. The impressive “dawn song” is a series of harsh, ratcheting utterances that accelerate in frequency and grow ever briefer in duration: the first few notes are “ooo-whaaaa,” becoming “whaa” as the song progresses.
Identification
The bay-breasted cuckoo is 46 to 51 cm (18 to 20 in) long, about half of which is the tail. One male specimen weighed 128 g (4.5 oz). The species' bill is stout and decurved, with a black maxilla and a yellow mandible. Males and females have the same plumage. Adults have gray upperparts with chestnut on the wing's primaries, a gray face, a dark chestnut chin and breast, a pale rufous belly, and gray undertail coverts. Their tail is black with large white tips. Juveniles apparently differ from adults only in having narrower tail feathers.
Taxonomy
The bay-breasted cuckoo was at one time placed in the genus Piaya which was later merged into Hyetornis. That genus was then merged into the current Coccyzus. The species is monotypic.<p>It is locally known as "cúa" in Spanish and "tako kabrit" in Haitian Creole.
- Scientific name
- Coccyzus rufigularis
- Authority
- Hartlaub, 1852
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
- Genus
- Coccyzus
Range and habitat
The bay-breasted cuckoo historically ranged widely in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As of 2020, it had possibly been extirpated from mainland Haiti and definitely from Gonâve Island, and was known to nest in only two areas of the Dominican Republic. One is on the northern slope of Sierra de Bahoruco in Independencia Province where it is present in two protected areas. The other is in Nalga de Maco National Park on the lower southern slope of the Cordillera Central. Local reports, sight records, and photographs from other sites since 2005 hint that the species is present outside those two areas, and "it is likely that small breeding populations remain at these sites."<p>The bay-breasted cuckoo inhabits lowlands and foothills up to at least 900 m (3,000 ft). It is found in several forest types, but mostly in the narrow transition zone between dry and moist areas.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The bay-breasted cuckoo is not migratory.<p>The bay-breasted cuckoo has a varied diet that includes adult insects, caterpillars, grubs, lizards, and mice. Young birds are mostly fed cicadas. It forages mostly from the forest mid-story to the canopy, leaping between branches.<p>The bay-breasted cuckoo's breeding phenology is almost unknown. Its breeding season is from February to the beginning of the wet season in June. It builds a loose platform nest of twigs in a tree. It usually places the nest 3 to 6 m (10 to 20 ft) above the ground and hidden in dense foliage or a bromeliad. The clutch size is two or three eggs.<p>The bay-breasted cuckoo's most distinctive vocalization is "a forceful cua, often followed by accelerating u-ak-u-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak ak-ak." The first note gives the species its onomatopoeic local Dominican Republic name. It also "bleats like a lamb" and makes a "[g]uttural crow-like call, described as 'ú-wack-ú-wack-ú-wack-'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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