Large Hawk-Cuckoo

Hierococcyx sparverioides (Vigors, 1832)

≈39 cmLength151 gWeight

It is a hawk-like cuckoo with a smoky-gray head, extensive stripes and noisy, grating calls.

Busiest months: April–May · Most records: China, Thailand, Bhutan

Looks like Common Hawk-Cuckoo

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Head smoky-gray; yellow around the eye
Tail brown, with 3–4 black bars and a white tip
Breast and belly white; forebreast stripes rusty or black
Wings and tail broad and rounded; flight feathers with dark brown and white stripes

Male, female and young

Juveniles are brown over almost the entire body, with teardrop-shaped markings on the breast and white stripes on the belly and flanks.

Voice

Noisy, grating cries in three-syllable phrases with the first two syllables alike, repeated many times.

Similar species

Common Hawk-Cuckoo

Common Hawk-Cuckoo is smaller; Large Hawk-Cuckoo is slightly larger, and adults have black spots on the chin, a feature that separates the two.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April–May · Most records: China, Thailand, Bhutan

Large Hawk-Cuckoo has been recorded at 937 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 16 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)760 records
Lam Tsuen ValleyHong Kong (China)398 records
Tai Po Kau Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)347 records

More places

Munsyari – Bheema WodeyarIndia296 records
Long ValleyHong Kong (China)277 records
Nantou – Xitou Nature Education AreaTaiwan (China)209 records
Mai Po NR – #8b ReedbedHong Kong (China)191 records
Emei Peak NNRChina191 records
Pat Heung Catchwater, Tai LamHong Kong (China)190 records
Doi Inthanon NPThailand178 records

Countries and regions with the most records

China Thailand Bhutan India Nepal Singapore Cambodia Vietnam

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 large hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx sparverioides) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide breeding distribution from temperate Asia along the Himalayas extending to East Asia. Many populations winter further south.

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

Questions

How big is the Large Hawk-Cuckoo?

The Large Hawk-Cuckoo is about ≈39 cm long and weighs around 151 g.

Where does the Large Hawk-Cuckoo live?

Its breeding range: Oriental: widespread western Himalayas through eastern China and Southeast Asia. It is most often recorded in China, Thailand and Bhutan.