Sirkeer Malkoha

Latin Name: 
Taccocua leschenaultii
Category: 
Cuckoos, Coucals
Size: 
45cm
Description: 

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

Habitat: 
open jungle, scrub, ravines, dense growth around habitation. Runs low and rat-like when disturbed. Builds its own nest. Endemic resident of thorn scrub and semi-desert regions.
Food: 
insects, fallen fruit, lizards.
Distribution: 
most of subcontinent, up to about 1,800m in the Himalaya; absent in NW India and Kashmir.
Call: 
Call Description: 
fairly loud and sharp clicking notes: mostly vocal when breeding
IUCN: 
Least Concern
National Status: 
very local resident
At IITK: 
very local resident