Sula Cuckoo-Dove

Very elusive, chickenlike bird of humid evergreen and pine-evergreen forests and adjacent shade-coffee plantations in the highlands of extreme southeast Chiapas and from Guatemala to Costa Rica. Usually in pairs or small groups on the forest floor; may be seen beside quiet trails and roads early and late in the day. Runs away quickly and rarely flies. Note the white crown and throat, dark bill, and red eyering. Loud rollicking songs are given mainly early and late in the day and most often reveal its presence.

Male is light powder-gray with darker wing feathers and tail and a dark patch in front of the eye. Female is powder-gray above and vivid reddish below. Prefers primary forest, and appears to avoid secondary growth and scrub. Common call is a loud “chi-beet” or “pity-you.”

A small, slender plain apalis with sooty-gray upperparts, pale gray underparts, a pale throat, and a shortish white-tipped gray-brown tail; eyes are red-brown. Juvenile is paler than adult, with dingy yellowish underparts. A local resident inhabiting middle levels of both primary and patchy degraded forest, especially along streams, in the northeast Congo Basin, where no similar apalises occur. Vocalizations include a rapid, monotonous strident “swit-swit-swit-swit” and “tet-tet-tet.”