Coucal
From Wild India
(Centropus)
| Greater Coucal | ||||||||||||||
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| Centropus sinensis (Stephens, 1815) |
It is a clumsy, glossy black bird with conspicuous chestnut wings and long, broad, black, graduated tail. Both the sexes are alike. It is found singly or in pairs, stalking along the ground in the undergrowth. It is a largely terrestial, nonparasitic cuckoo. Its food consists of caterpillars, large insects, snails, lizards, young mice, and birds' eggs. It has a deep resonant call, in series of 6 or 7 and upto 20, repeated quickly in varying tempo. Its nesting season is from February to September. Its nest is usually an untidy, large globular mass of twigs, leaves, etc., with a lateral entrane. Coucal's are related to cuckoos.
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Species
In India, there are 5 species of coucals (According to Rasmussenn)
- Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis) - Found in NE India and Western Ghats
- Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis) - Himalayas and Pakistan
- 'Southern' Coucal (Centropus [sinensis] parroti) -
- Andaman Coucal (Centropus [sinensis] andamanensis)
- Green-billed Coucal (Centropus chlororhynchos) - Sri Lanka
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Pictures from OBI
- Greater Coucal (http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=462)
- Green-billed Coucal (http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=473)
- Lesser Coucal (http://www.orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?action=searchresult&Bird_ID=471)
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Links
- Hear the bird (http://www.indiabirds.com/birdsounds/coucal3.mp3) (Copyright: Vijay Cavale)
