The lesser ground cuckoo (''Morococcyx erythropygus'') is a species of

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 ...

in the tribe Neomorphini of subfamily

Crotophaginae The Crotophaginae are a small subfamily, within the cuckoo family Cuculidae, of four gregarious bird species occurring in the Americas. They were previously classified as a family Crotophagidae. The subfamily is notable for the development of co ...

. It is found in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The lesser ground cuckoo is the only member of its genus. It has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''M. e. erythropygus'' and ''M. e. mexicanus''.

Description

The lesser ground cuckoo is long. Males weigh about and females about . Females are somewhat paler than males but otherwise do not differ. They have a slightly decurved bill with a blackish brown

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

and an orange

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

. Their face is intricately patterned, with a bright yellow ring around the eye with bare blue skin behind it and thin black lines surrounding the area, a short indistinct whitish stripe above the eye, and cinnamon ocracous cheeks. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a grayish brown crown, an olive brown nape and back, a sooty blackish lower back and rump, and olive brown uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

. Their tail is mostly olive brown with a purplish bronze gloss and buff to whitish tips on top and light grayish brown on the underside with dull blackish bands near the end of the outer feathers. Their underparts from chin to vent are cinnamon ochraceous. Immatures are similar to adults but duller and do not have the pale tips and blackish bands on the tail.Soberanes-González, C. A., C. I. Rodríguez-Flores, M. d. C. Arizmendi, G. M. Kirwan, and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Lesser Ground-Cuckoo (''Morococcyx erythropygus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.legcuc1.01 retrieved September 22, 2022 Adults of subspecies ''M. e. mexicanus'' are larger and paler than the nominate, with somewhat grayer upperparts and underparts tending to ochraceous buff or pale buff, but a darker underside to the tail.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of lesser ground cuckoo is found from southern Mexico south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua into Costa Rica. ''M. e. mexicanus'' is found on the Pacific slope of western Mexico between

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

and the

Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...

. The species inhabits semiarid to arid landscapes including the interior and edges of woodlands,

thorn forest A thorn forest is a dense scrubland with vegetation characteristic of dry subtropical and warm temperate areas with a seasonal rainfall averaging . Regions Africa Is present in the southwest of Africa with smaller areas in other places of Africa. ...

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

, and savanna. Those in southwestern Mexico are almost exclusively found in thorn forest.

Behavior

Movement

The lesser ground cuckoo is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The lesser ground cuckoo feeds on insects captured while walking on the ground or picked from vegetation with short leaps. Details of its diet are lacking.

Breeding

The lesser ground cuckoo's breeding seasons vary geographically but are not fully known. In Costa Rica it breeds between February and May and its season in Mexico apparently includes May and June. It makes a shallow bowl nest of sticks or leaves on the ground. Both adults incubate the clutch of two eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

The lesser ground cuckoo's song has been described as "a series of 10 or more loud rolling or trilling notes...usually introduced by 2–3 clear, ascending whistles" and as "loud, rich, rolled whistles, suggesting a referee's whistle...''prree,...prree,....prree, prree-prree-prreeprree ... prree, prree, prree,....prree,.........prree''". It also made "a clear whistle, ''teeeee''" and "a rough, growling ''ghaaaoow''".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the lesser ground cuckoo as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and an estimated population between 50,000 and 500,000 mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1262730, from2=Q10794759 lesser ground cuckoo Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of El Salvador Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua lesser ground cuckoo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot