Cuckoos, Coucals

Grey-bellied Cuckoo

Small, distinctive cuckoo, with grey head and upper body, and unbarred grey breast and belly; white vent and white-barred undertail coverts; hepatic female and immature similar to Plaintive, but brighter rufous; lack supercilium and barred tail of Banded Bay; lighter barring on crown and nape; cross-barred back,
narrow-barred white underparts; mostly solitary; as with Plaintive, mainly arboreal, keeping to treetops and restlessly changing perches while singing; may descend to ground in pursuit of insects.

Sirkeer Malkoha

Sexes alike. Olivebrown plumage; long, graduated tail, with broad white tips to blackish outer feathers diagnostic in flight; cherryred beak, with yellow tip. Solitary or in pairs; sometimes 4 or 5 birds in the neighbourhood; move mostly on ground, in dense growth; may clamber out on some bush tops or low trees; flight weak and short

Greater Coucal

Sexes alike. Glossy bluish-black plumage; chestnut wings; blackish, loose-looking, long, graduated tail. Female somewhat bigger than male. Solitary or in pairs; moves amidst dense growth, fanning and flicking tail often; clambers up into trees, but is a poor flier, lazily flying short distances.

Asian Koel

Male: metallic-black plumage; greenish beak and crimson eyes. Female: dark brown, thickly spotted and barred white; whitish below, dark-spotted on throat,
barred below. Solitary or in pairs; arboreal; mostly silent between July and February; fast flight.

Common Hawk Cuckoo

Sexes alike. Ashy-grey above; dark bars on rufescent-tipped tail; dull white below, with pale ashy-rufous on breast; barred below. Young birds broadly-streaked dark below; pale rufous barrings on brown upper body. Solitary, rarely in pairs; strictly arboreal; noisy during May–September; silent after rains.

Pied Cuckoo

Sexes alike. Black above; noticeable crest; white in wings and white tip to long tail feathers diagnostic in flight; white underbody. Young birds, seen in
autumn, are dull sooty-brown with indistinct crests; white areas dull fulvous. Solitary or in small parties of 4 to 6; arboreal; occasionally descends to ground to feed on insects; arrives just before SW monsoon by end of May; noisy and active, chasing one another; mobbed by crows on arrival.

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