Indian Cuckoo

Cuculus micropterus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestMedium · 89 g

What the Indian Cuckoo sounds like

Sonogram of the Indian Cuckoo: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Jairam Vijayan · Uncertain · Payyavoor, Kannur, Kerala, India · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

This is a medium-sized cuckoo with both sexes alike. It has grey upperparts while the underside has broad black barring. The tail is barred with a broad subterminal dark band and a white tip. Young birds have white markings on the crown and white chin and throat contrasting with a dark face. Juveniles are browner and have broad white tips to the head and wing feathers. The eye-ring is gray to yellow (a feature shared with the common hawk-cuckoo). The iris is light brown to reddish.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Indian Cuckoo

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 6 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Indian Cuckoo

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 22 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Japan, Mongolia.

About the Indian Cuckoo

The Indian cuckoo or short-winged cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, that is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It ranges from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and north to China and Russia. It is a solitary and shy bird, found in forests and open woodland at up to 3,600 m (11,800 ft).

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Common Cuckoo vs Indian Cuckoo · Indian Cuckoo vs Red-chested Cuckoo · Black Cuckoo vs Indian Cuckoo · Indian Cuckoo vs Oriental Cuckoo · Himalayan Cuckoo vs Indian Cuckoo

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