Northern Hawk-Cuckoo

How to identify

Field marks

1. Eye-ring yellow
2. Base of the bill yellow; bill tip black
3. White patch visible on the folded wing
4. Back and wings slate-gray

Male, female and young

Sexes similar in color; juveniles have white underparts with black streaks and spots.

Voice

The song is a buzzing “weeweepeeit”, rising in pitch and becoming faster with successive repetitions.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May and October · Most records: China, Japan, South Korea

Northern Hawk-Cuckoo has been recorded at 82 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 7 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Hangzhou Botanical GardenChina36 records
2. Sakata – Tobishima (island)Japan28 records
3. Baengnyeong-do (island)South Korea24 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaJapanSouth KoreaMalaysiaThailandVietnamRussia

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 northern hawk-cuckoo or rufous hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx hyperythrus) is a species of cuckoo found in eastern China, North and South Korea, far eastern Russia, and Japan. Northern populations migrate to overwinter in Borneo. This elusive species is considered rare over most of its range and many of its life history traits remain understudied.

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

Questions