Tag: Indian Cuckoo

Comparison of Indian Cuckoo Cuculus micropterus and Common Cuckoo C. canorus. Common is bottom left—note yellow iris and compare to dark iris of Indian bottom right. Top panels also Indian. Note thick barring on underparts. Cape Nanhui, Shanghai, May. (Craig Brelsford)

Indian Cuckoo Cuculus micropterus micropterus has summer range in China that falls mainly on eastern side of diagonal line running from northeast to southwest China. Resident Hainan. Smaller than Common Cuckoo, but size alone rarely enough for positive identification. Best differentiator is voice, and Indian Cuckoo is instantly recognizable, the loud, four-syllable whistle being commonly heard in wooded areas throughout its range. Song heard mainly in breeding areas, making ID of migrating and wintering birds difficult. All five Cuculus cuckoos in China (Indian Cuckoo, Common Cuckoo, Himalayan Cuckoo, Lesser Cuckoo, and Oriental Cuckoo) are long-tailed and slender, with adults having grey hood and similarly colored grey upperparts. Tail darker than upperparts, approaching black, with some white spotting. Underparts whitish, with black bars (fainter on lower belly and vent). Legs short, yellow; wings long, pointed. All arboreal and insectivorous, with caterpillars in particular being taken, and in their rapid flight can be mistaken for falcons or hawks. All are brood parasites. Indian Cuckoo has a black subterminal band on its tail, which the other similar cuckoos lack. Bill yellow at base, with black tip; eye-ring yellow. Eye of Indian Cuckoo is darker than Common, and rump of Indian contrasts less with its body. Female tends more toward brown in upperparts and has rufous wash across top of breast, sometimes extending to sides of neck. Juvenile blackish grey-brown with prominent white tips to feathers; the most distinctive of the similar Cuculus species. Indian Cuckoo mainly parasitizes the nests of crows and drongos, notably Ashy Drongo. — Craig Brelsford

SOUND-RECORDING

Indian Cuckoo Cuculus micropterus, classic four-note call, Boli, Heilongjiang, China, early June, by Craig Brelsford (0:02; 880 KB)

RESOURCES ON CUCKOOS

The Cuckoos of Shanghai: Craig Brelsford examines the Shanghai-area parasitic cuckoos and teaches you how to tell them apart. The non-Cuculus parasitic cuckoo that one is most likely to see in Shanghai is Large Hawk-Cuckoo. Rufous Hawk-Cuckoo, Asian Koel, and Chestnut-winged Cuckoo also are occasionally noted.

Indian Cuckoo & Common Cuckoo: A Comparison: Note the smaller size of Indian Cuckoo, its thicker barring, and its darker iris. Voice as always is the surest differentiator. Both Indian Cuckoo and Common Cuckoo occur on passage in Shanghai and breed in the region.

Why This Cuckoo Is Lesser Cuckoo: The Cuculus I saw at Shanghai’s Cape Nanhui in September had the dark eye, well-defined and widely spaced barring, and small size suggestive of Lesser Cuckoo. See my photos of the thrush-sized cuckoo.

My Exchange with a Reader About Cuculus Cuckoos: “Draw a circle around the five [Cuculus] cuckoos [of China],” Craig Brelsford instructs a shanghaibirding.com reader. “Within that circle, draw three circles: one around Indian, one around Lesser, and one around Common, Himalayan, and Oriental.” Using this method, one quickly clusters the three main groups of Cuculus in China.

THE CUCKOOS OF CHINA

shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the order Cuculiformes in China. Click any link:

Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis
Lesser Coucal C. bengalensis
Green-billed Malkoha Phaenicophaeus tristis
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo Clamator coromandus
Jacobin Cuckoo C. jacobinus
Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus
Asian Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx maculatus
Violet Cuckoo C. xanthorhynchus
Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii
Plaintive Cuckoo C. merulinus
Fork-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus dicruroides
Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides
Common Hawk-Cuckoo H. varius
Rufous Hawk-Cuckoo H. hyperythrus
Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo H. nisicolor
Lesser Cuckoo Cuculus poliocephalus
Indian Cuckoo C. micropterus
Himalayan Cuckoo C. saturatus
Oriental Cuckoo C. optatus
Common Cuckoo C. canorus

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