About the Plaintive Cuckoo
The plaintive cuckoo is a species of bird belonging to the genus Cacomantis in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It is native to Asia, from India, Nepal and China to Indonesia.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
The plaintive cuckoo is fairly small, measuring about 21–24 cm (8.3–9.4 in) long. The adult male is grey-brown above and orange below with a grey head, throat and upper breast. The tail feathers have white tips. The legs and feet are yellow, the eye is red and the bill is black above and yellow below. The adult female is sometimes similar to the male but often occurs in a "hepatic" morph. This form is reddish-brown above with dark bars. The underparts are paler with fainter barring. There is a pale stripe over the eye and the tail has dark bars along its whole length.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What the Plaintive Cuckoo sounds like
Where it lives
When to see it
Peak activity in March · a resident species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Sahul Brush CuckooCacomantis variolosusThe Sahul brush cuckoo is about 22–26 cm (8.7–10.2 in) long.
Grey-bellied CuckooCacomantis passerinusThe grey-bellied cuckoo is one of the smaller cuckoos, at a total length of about 23 cm.
Banded Bay CuckooCacomantis sonneratiiThe adults are bright rufous or bay on the head and back and are broadly barred with dark brown.
Learn the Plaintive Cuckoo for real
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