Indian Cuckoo

How to identify

Field marks

1. Upperparts gray
2. Broad black barring on the belly
3. Tail barred, with a broad dark band near the end and a white tip
4. Eye-ring gray to yellow; iris pale rufous to red

Male, female and young

The female has a paler gray throat, more rufous breast and tail, and narrower barring on the belly; juveniles are more rufous, with broad white tips to the head and wing feathers.

Voice

Four loud notes, heard in Chinese as phrases meaning “a bachelor's life is hard”, “quick, quick, cut the wheat” and “peas and maize”, among others.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: China, India, Malaysia

Indian Cuckoo has been recorded at 1,124 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 21 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Kanha NP – Mukki ZoneIndia1,749 records
2. Kanha Tiger Reserve – Mukki GateIndia817 records
3. Sepilok – Rainforest Discovery CenterMalaysia647 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaIndiaMalaysiaSingaporeThailandNepalCambodiaVietnam

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Indian cuckoo or short-winged cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, that is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It ranges from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and 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 (11,800 ft).

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions