Indian Cuckoo
Encyclopedia
The Indian Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo
order of bird
s, the Cuculiformes, that is found in Asia
from Pakistan
and India
, Sri Lanka
east to Indonesia
and north to China and Russia. It is a solitary and shy bird, found in forests and open woodland at up to 3,600 m.
). The iris is light brown to reddish. The female differs from the male in being slightly paler grey on the throat and in having more brown on the breast and tail. The barring on the belly is narrower than in the male. Nestlings have an orange-red mouth and yellow flanges to the gape
.
The call is loud with four notes. They have been transcribed as "orange-pekoe", "bo-ko-ta-ko", "crossword puzzle" or "one more bottle". In Bengali
, it is interpreted as "bou-kotha-kao", "Bride, please speak". Very little variation is noted between regions although the song in China is said to rise at the end. In the Kangra Valley of India, the call is interpreted as the soul of the dead shepherd uttering "where is my sheep". In China, one of the names (simplified Chinese: 四声杜鹃; traditional Chinese: 四聲杜鵑; pinyin: sìshēngdùjuān) means "four-note cuckoo".
They are locally common in the breeding season with as many as a calling bird for every 2 square km in northern India.
They feed on hairy caterpillars and other insects but sometimes take fruits. They usually feed on the upper canopy, gleaning
insects, sometimes making aerial sallies
for flying termites or rarely even by hovering lower near the ground.
described a form fatidicus from northeastern India.
Some populations appear to migrate south in winter, although there are breeding populations in the southern areas as well, with specimens netted at night or recorded at lighthouses.
. It lays its single egg mostly in the nests of drongo
s and crow
s. It removes and eats an egg from the host nest before laying its own. The breeding season varies from May to July in northern China, March to August in India, January to June in Burma and January to August in the Malay Peninsula.
The host species include Lanius cristatus in the Amur region, Black Drongo
and Pica cyanea in China. In India, they have been found to be fed by Black Drongos and Ashy Drongo
. Other hosts that have been recorded include Black-headed Oriole
, Streaked Spiderhunter
, Eurylaimus ochromalus and Dicrurus paradiseus.
The eggs of the cuckoo hatch in 12 days while those of the Brown Shrike in the Amur region take 14 days. During the third of fourth day, the young bird bends its back when touched and heaves out other eggs or nestlings. This instinct is lost soon after.
Cuckoo
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
order of bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, the Cuculiformes, that is found in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
east to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and north to China and Russia. It is a solitary and shy bird, found in forests and open woodland at up to 3,600 m.
Description
This is a medium sized cuckoo with both sexes alike. It has grey upperparts while the underside has broad black barring. The tail is barred with a broad subterminal dark band and a white tip. Young birds have white markings on the crown and white chin and throat contrasting with a dark face. Juveniles are browner and have broad white tips to the head and wing feathers. The eye-ring is gray to yellow (a feature shared with the Common Hawk-CuckooCommon Hawk-cuckoo
The Common Hawk-Cuckoo , popularly known as the Brainfever bird, is a medium sized cuckoo resident in South Asia. It bears a close resemblance to the Shikra, a sparrow hawk, even in its style of flying and landing on a perch...
). The iris is light brown to reddish. The female differs from the male in being slightly paler grey on the throat and in having more brown on the breast and tail. The barring on the belly is narrower than in the male. Nestlings have an orange-red mouth and yellow flanges to the gape
Gape
In bird anatomy, the gape is the interior of the open mouth of a bird and the gape flange is the region where the two mandibles join together, at the base of the beak...
.
The call is loud with four notes. They have been transcribed as "orange-pekoe", "bo-ko-ta-ko", "crossword puzzle" or "one more bottle". In Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, it is interpreted as "bou-kotha-kao", "Bride, please speak". Very little variation is noted between regions although the song in China is said to rise at the end. In the Kangra Valley of India, the call is interpreted as the soul of the dead shepherd uttering "where is my sheep". In China, one of the names (simplified Chinese: 四声杜鹃; traditional Chinese: 四聲杜鵑; pinyin: sìshēngdùjuān) means "four-note cuckoo".
They are locally common in the breeding season with as many as a calling bird for every 2 square km in northern India.
They feed on hairy caterpillars and other insects but sometimes take fruits. They usually feed on the upper canopy, gleaning
Gleaning (birds)
Gleaning is a term for a feeding strategy by birds in which they catch invertebrate prey, mainly arthropods, by plucking them from foliage or the ground, from crevices such as rock faces and under the eaves of houses, or even, as in the case of ticks and lice, from living animals. This behavior is...
insects, sometimes making aerial sallies
Hawking (birds)
Hawking is a feeding strategy in birds involving catching flying insects in the air. The term usually refers to a technique of sallying out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch...
for flying termites or rarely even by hovering lower near the ground.
Taxonomy and systematics
Two subspecies are generally recognized. The nominate form is found in much of continental Asia, while concretus S. Müller, 1845 which is smaller and darker is known from the Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and Borneo. The birds in the Amur region are larger and Swinhoe described a form from northern China as Cuculus michieanus while Walter Norman KoelzWalter Norman Koelz
Walter Norman Koelz was an American zoologist and museum collector.Walter Koelz's parents were immigrants from the Black Forest region of Germany, and his father was a village blacksmith in Waterloo. Walter Koelz studied zoology and received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University...
described a form fatidicus from northeastern India.
Distribution and habitat
The species is found widely distributed across Asia. The preferred habitat is deciduous and evergreen forests but also occur in garden lands and thick scrub.Some populations appear to migrate south in winter, although there are breeding populations in the southern areas as well, with specimens netted at night or recorded at lighthouses.
Behaviour and ecology
The Indian Cuckoo is a brood parasiteBrood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
. It lays its single egg mostly in the nests of drongo
Drongo
The drongos are a family of small passerine birds of the Old World tropics, the Dicruridae. This family was sometimes much enlarged to include a number of largely Australasian groups, such as the Australasian fantails, monarchs and paradise flycatchers...
s and crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s. It removes and eats an egg from the host nest before laying its own. The breeding season varies from May to July in northern China, March to August in India, January to June in Burma and January to August in the Malay Peninsula.
The host species include Lanius cristatus in the Amur region, Black Drongo
Black Drongo
The Black Drongo , also known as the King Crow, is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. Previously considered a subspecies of the African Fork-tailed Drongo , it is now recognized as a full species...
and Pica cyanea in China. In India, they have been found to be fed by Black Drongos and Ashy Drongo
Ashy Drongo
The Ashy Drongo is a species of bird in the drongo family Dicruridae. It is found widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia with several populations that vary in the shade of grey, migration patterns and in the size or presence of a white patch around the eye.-Description:The adult Ashy...
. Other hosts that have been recorded include Black-headed Oriole
Black-headed Oriole
The Black-headed Oriole is an African passerine.It has a very striking appearance with a bright yellow body, contrasting black head and flesh-coloured beak....
, Streaked Spiderhunter
Streaked Spiderhunter
The Streaked Spiderhunter is a species of bird in the Nectariniidae family.It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist...
, Eurylaimus ochromalus and Dicrurus paradiseus.
The eggs of the cuckoo hatch in 12 days while those of the Brown Shrike in the Amur region take 14 days. During the third of fourth day, the young bird bends its back when touched and heaves out other eggs or nestlings. This instinct is lost soon after.
Other sources
- Sankar,K (1993) The Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus micropterus Gould) in Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90(3):512
- Hewetson, C. E. (1956) Observations on the bird life of Madhya Pradesh. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 53(4):627