The banded bay cuckoo or bay-banded cuckoo (''Cacomantis sonneratii'') is a species of small

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae ( ) family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes ( ). The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are somet ...

found in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Like others in the genus they have round nostrils. They are usually founded in well-wooded areas mainly in the lower hills. Males sing from exposed branches during the breeding season, which can vary with region. They are distinctive both in their calls as well as plumage with a white eyebrowed appearance and the rufous upperparts with regular dark bands and the whitish underside with fine striations.

Description

The adults are bright rufous or bay on the head and back and are broadly barred with dark brown. The bill is long and slightly curved. A whitish supercilium is distinctive above a dark eye-line. The wing is darker and tail is graduated with a dark brown centre. The tail has a subterminal black band and white tips to the feathers. The sexes are alike. The iris is yellow and the bill is black while the base of the lower mandible is greenish grey. The tarsi are grey. The juvenile is similar but has a pale lower mandible and white fringes to the feathers of the upper body. The overall length is about 22 cm making it about the same size as the syntopic ''

Cacomantis merulinus The plaintive cuckoo (''Cacomantis merulinus'') 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. Description The plaintive cuckoo is fai ...

'' and '' Cacomantis variolosus''. The hepatic forms of those can be similar but supercilium, long beak and barred tail distinguish this species.

Taxonomy and systematics

The species was originally classed in the genus ''Cuculus'' by John Latham. The type specimen came from Northeastern India. The species epithet is after the French naturalist and explorer

Pierre Sonnerat Pierre Sonnerat (18 August 1748 – 31 March 1814) was a French naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and explorer. He described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in the genus ''Sonneratia'' and in other ...

. Four subspecies are generally recognized: * the nominate form from India, Nepal, Thailand, Malay Peninsula * ''C. s. musicus'' Ljungh, 1804 (from Java, Bali) * ''C. s. fasciolatus'' Müller, 1843 (Sumatra) * ''C. s. waiti''

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

, 1919 (Sri Lanka) Some sources also recognize ''malayanus'' (Chasen & Kloss, 1931) from Peninsular Malaysia and ''schlegeli'' (Junge, 1948) from Sumatra, Borneo and Palawan (SW Philippines).

Ecology and behaviour

Like many other cuckoos, they are brood-parasitic and hosts recorded include the

common iora The common iora (''Aegithina tiphia'') is a small passerine bird found across the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub a ...

red-whiskered bulbul The red-whiskered bulbul (''Pycnonotus jocosus''), or crested bulbul, is a passerine bird native to Asia. It is a member of the bulbul family. It is a resident frugivore found mainly in tropical Asia. It has been introduced in many tropical are ...

, white-bellied erpornis,

scarlet minivet The scarlet minivet (''Pericrocotus speciosus'') is a small passerine bird. This minivet is found in tropical southern Asia from Northeast India to southern China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They are common resident breeding birds in forests ...

, bulbuls and small babblers (''

Stachyris ''Stachyris'' is a genus of passerine birds in the Old World babbler family, Timaliidae. Taxonomy The genus ''Stachyris'' was introduced in 1844 in an article by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in which he quotes a diagnosis by Brian Houghton ...

'' spp.). The eggs resemble those of the hosts. The incubation and nesting are not well documented. Fledglings of the host are evicted. Populations are often migratory or partially migratory. In India, they are found mainly during the monsoons. They are found in well-wooded forests, mainly in hill areas. Insects are their primary diet. They capture insects by

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops in the field after harvest. During harvest, there is food that is left or missed often because it does not meet store standards for uniformity. Sometimes, fields are left because they were not ec ...

as well as by aerial sallying. The breeding season varies widely from region to region. Near Bombay they are known to lay eggs from February to August, Assam from April to August while they seem to sing through much of the year in the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches along the East Coast of India, eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of , it traverses the states and union territories of India, states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Prade ...

. In Sri Lanka, young have been seen in June and October while adults sing from January to May in the Malay Peninsula. The call of this species is distinctive. It is high-pitched four note whistle that has been transcribed as "wee-ti wee-tee" or "smoke-yer-pepper". The frequency starts at 2.4 kHz and each note falls in pitch with the strophe lasting a second.

References

External links

Internet Bird Collection

Calls from Xeno-Canto
{{Taxonbar, from=Q863195 banded bay cuckoo Birds of Indomalaya banded bay cuckoo