Chestnut-winged cuckoo
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Chestnut-winged cuckoo
| image = Chestnut-winged Cuckoo by Rejaul Karim.jpg
| image_caption = Chestnut-winged cuckoo in Guwahati, Assam, July 2020
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Clamator
| species = coromandus
| authority = (Linnaeus, 1766)
| synonyms = Cuculus coromandus {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}}
}}
The chestnut-winged cuckoo or red-winged crested cuckoo (Clamator coromandus) is a cuckoo found in Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It has dark glossy upperparts, a black head with long crest chestnut wings, a long graduated glossy black tail, rufous throat dusky underside and a narrow white nuchal half collar. They breed along the Himalayas and migrate south in winter to Sri Lanka, southern India and tropical Southeast Asia including parts of Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. It is about {{convert|47|cm|abbr=on}} long.
Description
This dark and crested cuckoo has chestnut wings, a glossy black crest and a graduated tail (the feathers shortening in steps from the center outwards) whose terminal edges are white and inconspicuous unlike the white tips of the Jacobin cuckoo which is found in parts of its range. The black capping on the head is broken from black of the back by a white collar that extends to the sides of the neck. The lower parts are rufous turning to dark grey towards the vent. Young birds are dusky with a scaly appearance to the wing feathers.{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen PC |author2=JC Anderton |year=2005| title =Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions|place=Washington DC & Barcelona|page=225}}
File:Chestnut-winged Cuckoo in Singapore, Dec 2012, by William Lee.jpg
Taxonomy
The species was first given its binomial name by Linnaeus in 1766. His description of what he called Cuculus coromandus was based on the notes of Brisson who described the bird as "Le coucou hupрé de Coromandel" which was collected on the Coromandel coast of India (probably near Pondicherry which was a French colony). Buffon noticed the close relation to the Jacobin cuckoo and called it "le Jacobin huppé de
Coromande".{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/generalsyn121782lath#page/519/mode/1up|page=520|author=Latham, John|title=A General Synopsis of Birds. Volume 1. Part 2|year=1782}} The species was later placed under the genus names of Coccystes, Oxylophus before being placed in Clamator.{{cite journal|author=Stejneger, Leonhard|page= 37|title=The generic name Coccystes untenable| url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsbiol01washgoog#page/n63/mode/1up|journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington|volume=15|year=1902}}
Distribution
File:Chestnut-Winged Cuckoo-1.jpg]]
The species is found from the western Himalayas to the eastern Himalayas and extends into Southeast Asia. It has been recorded from India, Nepal, China, Indonesia, Laos, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.{{cite book| title=Check-list of birds of the world. Volume 4|author=Peters, JL|year=1940|publisher=Harvard University Press, Cambridge|url=https://archive.org/stream/checklistofbirds41940pete#page/12/mode/1up|pages=12}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/BakerFbiBirds4/BakerFBI4#page/n199/mode/1up/|pages=170–171|title= The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume 4|edition=2nd|author=Baker, ECS|year=1927|publisher=Taylor and Francis|place=London}} Some populations may be non-migratory.{{cite book|author=Friedmann, H|year= 1964 | title= Evolutionary trends in the avian genus Clamator. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection. Volume 146. Number 4|publisher=Smithsonian Institution| url=https://archive.org/stream/smithsonianmisce146196364smit#page/n143/mode/2up|pages=1–127}}
During migration in India, it moves along the Eastern Ghats in its southward migration with exhausted individuals often being discovered in the vicinity of homes.{{cite journal|author= Krishnan, S M |year=1954| title=Occurrence of Redwinged Crested Cuckoo (Clamator coromandus) in Madras| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=52|issue=1|page=210| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48184060 }}{{cite journal|author=Raju, KSRK |year=1979| title= Occurrence of Redwinged Crested Cuckoo Clamator coromandus in Vishakhapatnam|journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers | volume= 19|issue=12| page= 11}} In mid-October, they are found in numbers at Point Calimere, possibly into Sri Lanka. Some appear to winter in the Western Ghats.{{Cite journal|author=Comber, E |year=1901| title= On the occurrence of Coccystes coromandus (The Red-winged Crested Cuckoo) in Bombay| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=13|issue=4|page= 696|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30169195}}{{cite journal|author1=Harrap, SC |author2=Redman, NJ |year=1989| title= Some observations of scarce birds in Kerala and Tamil Nadu| journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume= 86| issue=3|pages=460–461| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48710860}}{{cite book|author1=Ali, S |author2=SD Ripley|year=1981 |pages=192–194|title=Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 4|edition=2nd|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=New Delhi}}
Behaviour
This cuckoo sometimes joins mixed species foraging flocks and is usually seen singly. The breeding season is in summer and it is said to lay its eggs mainly in the nest of Garrulax laughingthrushes, especially G. monileger and G. pectoralis.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofzoo1923121481zool#page/n347/mode/1up|author=Baker, E. C. S. |year=1923|title= Cuckoos' eggs and evolution.|journal= Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.|volume=93 |issue=2 |pages= 277–294|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1923.tb02187.x }} The eggs are very spherical. The calls include fluty twin-notes repeated with short intervals.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{InternetBirdCollection|chestnut-winged-cuckoo-clamator-coromandus|Chestnut-winged cuckoo}}
- {{Xeno-canto species|Clamator|coromandus|Chestnut-winged cuckoo}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q262001}}