© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Gambia, Feb 2013

Bird name: Senegal Coucal
Latin: Centropus senegalensis
Other: Coucal du Sénégal (Fr), cucal del Senegal (It)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos, Coucals
Range: Widespread Africa, incl Gambia
Similar:

Very frequently seen in the Gambia but somehow I didn’t get the perfect photo op.

More photos...

© Faye L - monacoeye • All rights reserved, Kenya

Bird name: White Browed Coucal
Latin: Centropus superciliosus
Other: Rainbird, Coucal à sourcils blancs (Fr), Cucal dai sopraccigli bianchi (It)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos, Coucals
Range: Sub-Saharan Africa
Similar: Burchell's Coucal

Many thanks to Faye L and Tom C for providing these shots of White-browed Coucal in Tanzania.

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© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Brufut, Gambia, Feb 2013

Bird name: Klaas's Cuckoo
Latin: Chrysococcyx klaas
Other: Coucou de Klaas (Fr), cuclillo de Klaas (Es), Cuco-bronzeado-menor (Pt), Klaaskuckuck (Nl), Cuculo dorato di Klaas (It)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Widespread Africa, incl Gambia
Similar:

The male Klaas's Cuckoo is a beautiful small iridescent green cuckoo, with white underside. The female is brownish.

One perched above me in Brufut Woods in the Gambia.

Below, male Klaas's Cuckoo, white underside, Brufut, Gambia, Feb 2013


Klaas’s Cuckoo, beautiful iridescent plumage
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© monacoeye • All rights reserved, Lagoa do Peixe • November 2009

Bird name: Dark Billed Cuckoo
Latin: Coccyzus melacoryphus
Other: Papa-lagarta-acanelado (Br), Coulicou de Vieillot (Fr), Cuclillo Canela (Es)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Colombia to Brazil, Argentina
Similar:

The Dark-billed Cuckoo is found in much of South America, including all of Brazil, though it only migrates to Rio Grande do Sul in the austral summer.

It is in the same genus as the Lizard Cuckoos, which eat lizards. This group of new world cuckoos are generally not brood-parasitic.

The Dark-billed Cuckoo has a distinctive yellow chest and belly, a grey-brown cap which runs below the eye to bill level, and brown back and upperside of wings. It is grey-white on the side neck area with a fully black bill.More photos...

© monacoeye • All rights reserved • El Valle, Panama, 3 May 2010

Bird name: Striped Cuckoo
Latin: Tapera naevia
Other: Saci (Br), Crespín, cuco rayado, trespiés (Es), Géocoucou tacheté (Fr), Tapera (Nl)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Argentina
Similar:

The Striped Cuckoo is a brownish bird, light underneath, with white stripe running above eye, rufous crest sometimes raised and long tail.

This individual was attracted by a call, and perched nearby in the open, in El Valle, central Panama.More photos...

© monacoeye, all rights reserved, Lagoa do Peixe • November 2009

Bird name: Guira Cuckoo
Latin: Guira guira
Other: Anu-branco (Br), Pirincho, Coco guira, Serere (Es)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: E & S Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, NE Argentina
Similar:

The Guira Cuckoo is unmistakeable by its pale spiky haired appearance. Its long tail has a very broad brown band bordered by white, but the two central feathers are all dark. Irises are yellow or orange.

Guira Cuckoos can use communal nests where several birds all lay up to 20 eggs in one nest. Guira Cuckoos are often seen in groups (see further below). In RS they were mostly in ones and twos, near farmland.

© Guira Cuckoo, Lagoa do Peixe • November 2009


Below, Guira Cuckoos in flight, Mostardas, RS, Brazil
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© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Pantanal, Aug 2011

Bird name: Squirrel Cuckoo
Latin: Piaya cayana
Other: Alma-de-gato (Br)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Brazil
Similar: Little Cuckoo

The Brazilian Squirrel Cuckoo (above) has a red eye ring. In fact all South American birds have the red eye ring, but Central American birds (below) have a yellow ring.
Long tail, with white and black underneath.

Seen in central Panama and Chiriqui. Again in Ecuador and widespread in Brazil. Seen in most wooded areas.

Below, Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana thermophila, Panama, showing yellow eye ring.


Below, Squirrel Cuckoo, San Isidro, Ecuador


Below, Squirrel Cuckoo with yellow throat, Curicaca Lodge, Pantanal, Brazil


Squirrel Cuckoo, Brazil
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© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Septimo Paraiso, Mindo, Ecuador

Bird name: Little Cuckoo
Latin: Coccycua minuta
Other: chincoã-pequeno (Br), Petit Piaye (fr), cuco ardilla menor, tingazú chico, piscuita enana (Es)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: E Panama to NE Brazil & N Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad
Similar: Squirrel Cuckoo

Just a record shot of Little Cuckoo in Mindo, Ecuador, at Septimo Paraiso Lodge. It looks rather like a small Squirrel Cuckoo.

© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Pipeline Road, Panama, 24 April 2010

Bird name: Pheasant Cuckoo
Latin: Dromococcyx phasianellus
Other: Géocoucou faisan (Fr), Saci-faisão (Br), Cuco faisán (Es),
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Brazil, Argentina
Similar:

Record shots of the hard-to-see Pheasant Cuckoo, which was calling in very dark forest undergrowth, near the Pipeline Road, in central Panama. Then again very responsive to calls at one location at forest edge, Chapada das Guimarães, Brazil.

The Pheasant Cuckoo has a white line above the eye, a pronounced rufous crest, and voluminous fanned tail.

Below, Pheasant Cuckoo, Chapada das Guimarães, Brazil
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© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Ubatuba November 2009

Bird name: Smooth Billed Ani
Latin: Crotophaga ani
Other: Ani de pico liso (Es), Anu-preto (Br), Glattschnabelani (De)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos, Anis
Range: Florida to Argentina
Similar: Greater Ani

No mistaking the Smooth-billed Ani with its prehistoric profile. Found in most of South and Central America excluding Chile and the southern tip. A gregarious bird in the cuckoo family, often found near humans and farms.

The Smooth-billed Ani has dark eyes, unlike the Greater Ani. It can also use communal nests with many females laying eggs in one large nest.

Below: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Gamboa, Panama, April 2010

Above: Ubatuba November 2009 More photos...

© monacoeye • All rights reserved • Gamboa, Panama, April 2010

Bird name: Greater Ani
Latin: Crotophaga major
Other: garrapatero (Es), Ani des palétuviers (Fr), anu-coroca (Br), Riesenani (De)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos, Anis
Range: Panama to Argentina
Similar: Smooth-billed Ani

The Greater Ani lays eggs in a communal nest. It is quite a bit larger than the Smooth-billed Ani and has distinctive pale irises. We saw them several times on visits to Gamboa in the canal area of central Panama.

Also seen in Ecuador, Napo.More photos...

© monacoeye • Danube Delta, Romania • May 2009 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Common Cuckoo
Latin: Cuculus canorus
Other: Cuckoo (UK) • Coucou gris (Fr) • Kuckuck (De) • cuco común (Es) • cuculo (It) • koekoek (Nl) • Gök (Sv) • cuco-canoro (Pt)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Widespread Europe summer migrant from Sub-saharan Africa; widespread Asia.
Similar: Hawk colouring

The brown cuckoos are female and the grey ones here are probably male, although there is both a brown and a grey female form.

The juvenile cuckoo, which we saw above 2000m in the Mercantour (photo further below), is identifiable by the small white patch on back of head, and some white streaks to upperside.

In the Danube Delta in May, you are never out of earshot of a cuckoo, and they are a fairly common sight, flying over the reedbeds and settling in trees.

Below, probably male cuckoo, Danube Delta.


More photos...

Pipeline Road Panama, 24 April 2010

Bird name: Rufous Vented Ground Cuckoo
Latin: Neomorphus geoffroyi
Other: Jacu-estalo (Br)
Family: Cuculidae - Cuckoos
Range: Nicaragua to Brazil
Similar:

Since the Rufous-Vented Ground-Cuckoo is such a rarely seen bird, I’ll break my rule and add an entry even though I don’t have a photo (if anyone out there has one I’d love to post one here - send to editor@monacoeye.com).

We were lucky enough to encounter a pair calling across the Pipeline Road in central Panama. With complete beginner’s luck, I called out the female inadvertently by clapping my hands, thinking I had heard a manakin! I got a very brief glimpse of the bird before it retreated into the undergrowth, but didn’t take a photo…

076 Cuculidae - Cuckoos, Anis, Coucals - IOC 2.5 - 2010

Guira guira - Guira Cuckoo - E, SE South America

Crotophaga major - Greater Ani - E Panama to N Argentina
Crotophaga ani - Smooth-billed Ani - S Florida to N Argentina
Crotophaga sulcirostris - Groove-billed Ani - Mexico to Guyana & NW Argentina

Tapera naevia - Striped Cuckoo - S Mexico to N Argentina

Dromococcyx phasianellus - Pheasant Cuckoo - S Mexico to N Argentina
Dromococcyx pavoninus - Pavonine Cuckoo - Guyana to N Argentina

Morococcyx erythropygus - Lesser Ground Cuckoo - W Mexico to NW Costa Rica

Geococcyx californianus - Greater Roadrunner - SW USA, Mexico
Geococcyx velox - Lesser Roadrunner - W Mexico to Nicaragua

Neomorphus geoffroyi - Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo - Nicaragua to Colombia, S Brazil
Neomorphus squamiger - Scaled Ground Cuckoo - Brazil, S Amazon - Neomorphus squamiger probably ssp of N. geoffroyi
Neomorphus radiolosus - Banded Ground Cuckoo - SW Colombia, NW Ecuador
Neomorphus rufipennis - Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo - NE South America
Neomorphus pucheranii - Red-billed Ground Cuckoo - W Amazonia

Centropus milo - Buff-headed Coucal - Solomon Islands
Centropus ateralbus - White-necked Coucal - Bismarck Archipelago - New name
Centropus menbeki - Ivory-billed Coucal - New Guinea
Centropus chalybeus - Biak Coucal - Biak Island
Centropus unirufus - Rufous Coucal - Philippines
Centropus chlororhynchos - Green-billed Coucal - Sri Lanka
Centropus melanops - Black-faced Coucal - Philippines
Centropus steerii - Black-hooded Coucal - Philippines
Centropus rectunguis - Short-toed Coucal - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Centropus celebensis - Bay Coucal - Sulawesi
Centropus anselli - Gabon Coucal - WC Africa
Centropus leucogaster - Black-throated Coucal - W, C Africa - Neumann's Coucal Centropus neumanni conspecific
Centropus senegalensis - Senegal Coucal - Widespread Africa
Centropus monachus - Blue-headed Coucal - NE, C, W Africa
Centropus cupreicaudus - Coppery-tailed Coucal - SC Africa
Centropus superciliosus - White-browed Coucal - E, SC, Africa, also SW Arabian Peninsula - includes Burchell's Coucall Centropus burchelli, deemed conspecific
Centropus nigrorufus - Sunda Coucal - Java
Centropus sinensis - Greater Coucal - Widespread Asia
Centropus toulou - Malagasy Coucal - Madagascar region
Centropus goliath - Goliath Coucal - N Moluccas
Centropus grillii - Black Coucal - Widespread Africa
Centropus viridis - Philippine Coucal - Philippines
Centropus bengalensis - Lesser Coucal - Widespread Asia
Centropus violaceus - Violaceous Coucal - Bismarck Archipelago - New name
Centropus bernsteini - Black-billed Coucal - New Guinea
Centropus phasianinus - Pheasant Coucal - Lesser Sundas, New Guinea, Australia - Kai Coucal Centropus spilopterus conspecific with Pheasant Coucal C. phasianinus
Centropus andamanensis - Andaman Coucal - Andaman Islands

Carpococcyx radiceus - Bornean Ground Cuckoo - Borneo
Carpococcyx viridis - Sumatran Ground Cuckoo - Sumatra
Carpococcyx renauldi - Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo - Southeast Asia

Coua cristata - Crested Coua - Madagascar
Coua verreauxi - Verreaux's Coua - Madagascar
Coua caerulea - Blue Coua - Madagascar
Coua ruficeps - Red-capped Coua - Madagascar
Coua reynaudii - Red-fronted Coua - Madagascar
Coua coquereli - Coquerel's Coua - Madagascar
Coua cursor - Running Coua - Madagascar
Coua gigas - Giant Coua - Madagascar
Coua serriana - Red-breasted Coua - Madagascar

Rhinortha chlorophaea - Raffles's Malkoha - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo

Ceuthmochares aereus - Blue Malkoha - W, C Africa - Was Green Malkoha
Ceuthmochares australis - Green Malkoha - E, SE Africa - Split from C. aereus as Green Malkoha

Taccocua leschenaultii - Sirkeer Malkoha - Pakistan, India

Zanclostomus javanicus - Red-billed Malkoha - Malay Peninsula, Greater Sundas

Rhamphococcyx calyorhynchus - Yellow-billed Malkoha - Sulawesi

Phaenicophaeus curvirostris - Chestnut-breasted Malkoha - Malay Peninsula, Greater Sundas
Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus - Red-faced Malkoha - Sri Lanka
Phaenicophaeus sumatranus - Chestnut-bellied Malkoha - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Phaenicophaeus viridirostris - Blue-faced Malkoha - S India, Sri Lanka
Phaenicophaeus diardi - Black-bellied Malkoha - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Phaenicophaeus tristis - Green-billed Malkoha - N India through Sumatra

Dasylophus superciliosus - Rough-crested Malkoha - Philippines
Dasylophus cumingi - Scale-feathered Malkoha - Philippines

Clamator coromandus - Chestnut-winged Cuckoo - Widespread Asia
Clamator glandarius - Great Spotted Cuckoo - S Europe through Africa
Clamator levaillantii - Levaillant's Cuckoo - Widespread Africa
Clamator jacobinus - Jacobin Cuckoo - Widespread Africa, Asia in Africa, India to Burma

Coccycua minuta - Little Cuckoo - E Panama to NE Brazil & N Bolivia
Coccycua pumila - Dwarf Cuckoo - N South America
Coccycua cinerea - Ash-colored Cuckoo - C, SE South America

Piaya cayana - Squirrel Cuckoo - Widespread Latin America
Piaya melanogaster - Black-bellied Cuckoo - N, Amazonia

Coccyzus melacoryphus - Dark-billed Cuckoo - Widespread South America
Coccyzus americanus - Yellow-billed Cuckoo - S Canada to N Mexico & West Indies - South America
Coccyzus euleri - Pearly-breasted Cuckoo - N, NE, E South America
Coccyzus minor - Mangrove Cuckoo - S Florida, Caribbean, Middle America to NE Brazil
Coccyzus ferrugineus - Cocos Cuckoo - Isla del Cocos
Coccyzus erythropthalmus - Black-billed Cuckoo - C, E North America - NW South America
Coccyzus lansbergi - Grey-capped Cuckoo - N South America - W South America
Coccyzus pluvialis - Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo - Jamaica
Coccyzus rufigularis - Bay-breasted Cuckoo - Hispaniola
Coccyzus vetula - Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo - Jamaica
Coccyzus merlini - Great Lizard Cuckoo - Bahamas, Cuba
Coccyzus vieilloti - Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo - Puerto Rico
Coccyzus longirostris - Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo - Hispaniola

Pachycoccyx audeberti - Thick-billed Cuckoo - W, WC, SE Africa, Africa, also Madagascar

Microdynamis parva - Dwarf Koel - New Guinea

Eudynamys scolopaceus - Asian Koel - Widespread Asia, also Lesser Sundas
Eudynamys melanorhynchus - Black-billed Koel - Sulawesi, Sula Islands. Australasia
Eudynamys orientalis - Pacific Koel - S Moluccas to N, E Australia. Australasia

Urodynamis taitensis - Long-tailed Cuckoo - New Zealand - S Pacific islands

Scythrops novaehollandiae - Channel-billed Cuckoo - Widespread Australasia

Chrysococcyx maculatus - Asian Emerald Cuckoo - Himalayas to SC China & Malay Peninsula
Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus - Violet Cuckoo - Southeast Asia to Philippines
Chrysococcyx caprius - Dideric Cuckoo - Widespread Africa, also SE Arabian Peninsula
Chrysococcyx klaas - Klaas's Cuckoo - Widespread Africa
Chrysococcyx flavigularis - Yellow-throated Cuckoo - C, W Africa
Chrysococcyx cupreus - African Emerald Cuckoo - C, W Africa
Chrysococcyx megarhynchus - Long-billed Cuckoo - New Guinea
Chrysococcyx basalis - Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo - Australia - Papua New Guinea, Greater and Lesser Sundas, Moluccas.
Chrysococcyx osculans - Black-eared Cuckoo - Australia
Chrysococcyx ruficollis - Rufous-throated Bronze Cuckoo - New Guinea
Chrysococcyx lucidus - Shining Bronze Cuckoo - Widespread Australasia
Chrysococcyx meyerii - White-eared Bronze Cuckoo - New Guinea
Chrysococcyx minutillus - Little Bronze Cuckoo - Southeast Asia to E Australia - Little Bronze Cuckoo C. minutillus includes C. russatus, C. rufomerus and C. crassirostris - unclear

Cacomantis pallidus - Pallid Cuckoo - Australia
Cacomantis leucolophus - White-crowned Cuckoo - New Guinea
Cacomantis castaneiventris - Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo - New Guinea, NE Australia
Cacomantis flabelliformis - Fan-tailed Cuckoo - Widespread Australasia
Cacomantis sonneratii - Banded Bay Cuckoo - Widespread Asia
Cacomantis merulinus - Plaintive Cuckoo - Southeast Asia to Philippines
Cacomantis passerinus - Grey-bellied Cuckoo - India
Cacomantis variolosus - Brush Cuckoo - Widespread Australasia, including N Moluccas
Cacomantis sepulcralis - Rusty-breasted Cuckoo - Malay Peninsula to Philippines, Sulawesi and W, C Moluccas. Asia, Australasia
Cacomantis heinrichi - Moluccan Cuckoo - N Moluccas - Moluccan Cuckoo Cacomantis heinrichi Brush Cuckoo C. variolosus? C. sepulcralis aeruginosus ?, split from Rusty-breasted Cuckoo?

Cercococcyx mechowi - Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo - W, C Africa
Cercococcyx olivinus - Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo - W, C Africa
Cercococcyx montanus - Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo - E, SE Africa

Surniculus velutinus - Philippine Drongo-Cuckoo - Philippines - Split from S. lugubris following Dickinson and Payne
Surniculus lugubris - Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo - Indian subcontinent to Malaysia, Greater Sundas and Palawan - New name
Surniculus dicruroides - Fork-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo - N India to SW, S China, N Thailand and Viet Nam. Asia - S to Malaya and Greater Sundas - Split from S. lugubris
Surniculus musschenbroeki - Moluccan Drongo-Cuckoo - Sulawesi and Halmahera - Split from S. lugubris

Hierococcyx vagans - Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo - Southeast Asia, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Hierococcyx sparverioides - Large Hawk-Cuckoo - Widespread Asia
Hierococcyx bocki - Dark Hawk-Cuckoo - Malay Pen, Sumatra, Borneo - Split from H. sparverioides
Hierococcyx varius - Common Hawk-Cuckoo - India to Burma
Hierococcyx hyperythrus - Rufous Hawk-Cuckoo - E Eurasia - Southeast Asia
Hierococcyx pectoralis - Philippine Hawk-Cuckoo - Philippines
Hierococcyx fugax - Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo - Southeast Asia, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Hierococcyx nisicolor - Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo - Nepal to Borneo

Cuculus clamosus - Black Cuckoo - Widespread Africa
Cuculus solitarius - Red-chested Cuckoo - Widespread Africa
Cuculus poliocephalus - Lesser Cuckoo - E, SE Eurasia - India, E Africa
Cuculus crassirostris - Sulawesi Cuckoo - Sulawesi
Cuculus micropterus - Indian Cuckoo - Widespread Asia, also E Asia
Cuculus rochii - Madagascar Cuckoo - Madagascar - E Africa
Cuculus gularis - African Cuckoo - Widespread Africa
Cuculus saturatus - Himalayan Cuckoo - Himalayas to Taiwan - Indonesia, Philippines - Was Oriental Cuckoo
Cuculus optatus - Oriental Cuckoo - NE Asia - Indonesia to Australasia - Split from C. saturatus new name
Cuculus lepidus - Sunda Cuckoo - SE Asia, Greater Sundas, Wallacea - Split from C. saturatus
Cuculus canorus - Common Cuckoo - Widespread Eurasia - Asia, Africa