Alternative name: Brain-fever Bird
- Hierococcyx sparverioides
Includes: Dark Hawk-Cuckoo
Identification
38-40 cm.
- Brown above
- Ashy-grey crown, nape and neck
- Brownish grey and black barred tail
- Black chin, white throat and rufous breast, throat and breast dark-streaked
- White belly with blackish bars
- Yellow eye-ring
- brocki is smaller and has narrow rufous bars above, an unstreaked throat and often an unstreaked breast
Juveniles have barred rufous and brown upperparts, a grey forehead, a white nape, a rufous and black barred tail and have buff underparts streaked with black teardrops.
Distribution
Breeds in the Himalayas from northern Pakistan and India to Nepal and China (Sichuan and lower Yangtze valley), south to Burma, Thailand and Indochina, Borneo, Sumatra and Malaysia.
Winters from southern India and Bangladesh to Thailand, the Greater Sundas and to the Philippines.
Common to fairly common in its range, scarce in Sumatra.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies recognized:
- C. s. sparverioides in most of its range
- C. s. bocki in the mountains of Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo
bocki is sometimes viewed as a full species, Dark Hawk-Cuckoo.
Has formerly been placed in the genus Cuculus.
Habitat
Found in deciduous and evergreen forests and open forest. On passage and in winter also in mangroves and gardens.
Occurs at 900-2700m in India during breeding season, up to 3000m in Nepal, 900-1600m in Sumatra and above 1000m in Borneo.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects, mainly caterpillars. Takes also berries.
Forages in the canopy, mainly solitary.
Breeding
Breeding season June to July in the western Himalayas, April to June in Assam. A brood parasitic. Known host species are Laughingthrushes, Streaked Spiderhunter, Lesser Shortwing and Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush. Places one egg in hosts nest.
Movements
A migratory species. Subspecies bocki resident.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1997. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334221
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Large Hawk-Cuckoo. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 22 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Large_Hawk-Cuckoo
