Lesser Coucal
Centropus bengalensis
A dark, rather sturdy cuckoo of scrubby habitats, reedbeds, forest edge, and agricultural areas. Adults black with bright chestnut wings and fine silvery streaking on neck and shoulders. Immatures a grayish brown above, paler below, with dull chestnut wings and a brown-and-black barred tail. Similar to Greater Coucal but significantly smaller, with a dark (instead of red) eye and duller chestnut back and wings with silver streaks. Song is a distinctive series of sharp notes, with the crescendo cadence of a bouncing ball.
识别特征
This slightly smaller-sized and shorter-billed coucal has a very long hind claw, the longest within the genus. The overall plumage, as in many other coucals, is of a blackish bird with a long tail and rufous wings. They have two plumages, a breeding plumage in which the head and upper back are glossy with dark shafts to the feather and a duller non-breeding plumage in which the feather shafts on the head and back are whitish. The wing coverts also have pale shafts showing as whitish streaks on the brown feathers. The central upper tail coverts are barred and very long. The iris is darker brown and not the crimson red as in the greater coucal. Juveniles have black spots, bars and have a browner colour. The calls of the lesser coucal include a series of low double "whoot-woot" or "kurook" notes that increase in tempo and descend in pitch. The Indonesian name of dudut is onomatopoeic.<p>The species is widely distributed west from the Indian subcontinent (but not in Sri Lanka despite an old report of a skin of doubtful provenance) extending east across Southeast Asia. Slight differences in size and plumage are noted in different parts of their range and several subspecies have been designated. The nominate form is found from India to Thailand. Subspecies lignator is larger and found in southeastern China and Taiwan. Subspecies javanensis is smaller and found across the larger islands along the Malay Peninsula extending east to the Philippines. Some island forms are larger and these include sarasinorum and found on Sulawesi, the Sula Islands, Lesser Sundas and Timor. The form on the Moluccas, medius is the largest. Some other subspecies like philippinensis from the Philippines and chamnongi from Thailand are not always recognized and are thought to form either variants or intermediate plumages. The population patchily distributed in the Western Ghats of southern India may constitute a distinct subspecies.
分类信息
The lesser coucal was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus Cuculus and coined the binomial name Cuculus bengalensis. Gmelin based his description on the "lark-heeled cuckoo" from Bengal that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. The lesser coucal is now one of around 30 species placed in the genus Centropus that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek kentron meaning "spur" or "spike" with pous meaning "foot".<p>Six subspecies are recognised:<p>In the past, this species was lumped along with the Malagasy coucal (Centropus toulou) but comparison of DNA sequences suggest that the lesser coucal is more closely related to the black coucal (Centropus grillii) and Philippine coucal (Centropus viridis) than to any other relatives.
- 学名
- Centropus bengalensis
- 命名信息
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- 目
- Cuculiformes
- 科
- Cuculidae
- 属
- Centropus
分布与栖息地
- 迁徙
- Resident species
行为
Migration pattern: Resident species.
保护状况
Population trend: rising.
- 种群趋势
- rising
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
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Spectacular ground-dwelling pigeon with long, extravagant plumes trailing down from the neck. Dark green intermixed with gray, blue, and bronzy orange, depending on the light. Tail is snow-white, but only readily visible when the bird is flushed. Generally shy, quiet, and difficult to see. Inhabits small, densely forested offshore islands from the Indian Andamans to the Solomons and New Guinea.
Large-tailed Antshrike
Mackenziaena leachii
Medium-sized antshrike with a rather small head, a short robust bill, and a long tail. Males are black with white spots and an entirely black tail while females are black with cinnamon spots and barring throughout. Mostly seen in pairs in the dense understory of humid forests closer to bamboo, can be active but hard to see. The song is a loud and clear series of ascending and descending notes.
Orange-eyed Thornbird
Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus
Medium-sized thornbird with a long tail. Note orange eyes and rufous forehead, throat, and tail while the body is largely brown. Similar to Orange-breasted Thornbird, but has orange rather than dark eyes. Found in pairs on the edge of humid forests, usually near marshes and water bodies where it builds huge stick nests. The song is loud and nasal, usually delivered as a duet.
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