They are usually found in well wooded areas. Males sing from exposed branches during the breeding season, which can vary with region. The adults are bright rufous or bay on the head and back and are broadly barred with dark brown. The bill is long and slightly curved. A whitish supercilium is distinctive above a dark eye-line. The wing is darker and tail is graduated with a dark brown centre. The tail has a subterminal black band and white tips to the feathers. The sexes are alike.
Tags: canon eos 550d rebel t2i kiss x4 300mm tele Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM bird fauna banded bay cuckoo banded bay cuckoo bay-banded cuckoo cacomantis sonneratii
© All Rights Reserved
My first shot and sighting of this lovely cuckoo. The adults are bright rufous or bay on the head and back and are broadly barred with dark brown. The bill is long and slightly curved. A whitish supercilium is distinctive above a dark eye-line. The sexes are alike. They are found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Like others in the genus they have a round nostril. They are usually found in well wooded areas mainly in the lower hills.
Tags: canon eos 550d rebel t2i kiss x4 300mm tele Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM bird fauna banded bay cuckoo banded bay cuckoo bay-banded cuckoo cacomantis sonneratii
My first shots of a juvenile Indian Cuckoo. At first I mistook this for a female Asian Koel but took another look after seeing its flight pattern. A closer look at the eyes confirmed this as being a cuckoo. 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. The Indian Cuckoo is a brood parasite. It lays its single egg mostly in the nests of drongos and crows. It removes and eats an egg from the host nest before laying its own.
Tags: panasonic lumix dmcfz8 fz8 fauna bird backyard indian cuckoo indian cuckoo cuculus micropterus
Captured this young Indian Cuckoo a few hundred meters from my home. 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. This 32 cm bird is a brood parasite. They feed on hairy caterpillars and other insects but sometimes take fruits. They are found over most of India south of the Himalayas except the dry and arid parts of NW India.
Tags: panasonic lumix dmcfz8 fz8 fauna bird backyard indian cuckoo indian cuckoo cuculus micropterus
© All Rights Reserved
The Drongo Cuckoo is found solitary and often mistaken for drongos, but its cuckoo-like flight is a giveaway. Strictly arboreal in nature. It is a brood parasite on small babblers. It is not known how or whether the drongo-like appearance benefits this species but it is suspected that it aids in brood-parasitism. Diet consists of insects, wild fruits, worms and caterpillars. Found in the lower Himalayas but spreads to many regions of south India in winter.
Tags: panasonic lumix dmcfz8 fz8 fauna bird backyard asian drongo cuckoo asian drongo-cuckoo Fork-Tailed Drongo-Cuckoo surniculus dicruroides