Pied Cuckoo

Latin Name: 
Clamator jacobinus
Category: 
Size: 
33cm
Description: 

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.

Habitat: 
open forest, cultivation, orchards.
Food: 
insects, including hairy, noxious caterpillars.
Distribution: 
chiefly SW monsoon breeding visitor; most of the area south of outer Himalaya.
Call: 
Call Description: 
noisy; loud, metallic plew…piu… call notes; other shrill shrieks.