Verreaux's Coua
Coua verreauxi
Long-tailed, tree-dwelling bird with gray upperparts and pale underparts. Bare facial skin is purple and blue. Inquisitive, restless bird that bounces through the trees, often in thick and spiny vegetation. Found locally in southwestern spiny forest at low elevation. Most frequent call is a very dry rasp. Similar to Crested Coua, but unlike the southwestern Crested Coua, has white rather than brick-red undertail. Verreaux’s Coua can also be distinguished by the black tip to its longer and messier crest, and by the lack of orange on the chest.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Coua verreauxi
- Authority
- Grandidier, A, 1867
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
- Genus
- Coua
Range and habitat
Verreaux's coua is endemic to the southwestern tip of Madagascar within the spiny forest zone. Its typical habitat is thick scrub on coral rag but it also occurs in other habitat types including within degraded areas.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The bird forages for invertebrates among trees and bushes and on the ground. It also eats Cassia fruit. It occurs from sea-level to 100 metres (330 ft). Little is known of its reproductive habits but males are sometimes seen singing from the tops of trees in November suggesting that this is the breeding season.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Cinclodes atacamensis
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Golden-crowned Babbler
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