The pheasant cuckoo (''Dromococcyx phasianellus'') is a species of

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

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 sometimes separat ...

in the subfamily

Neomorphinae The Neomorphinae are a subfamily of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. Members of this subfamily are known as New World ground cuckoos, since most are largely terrestrial and native to the Americas. Only ''Dromococcyx'' and ''Tapera'' are more arb ...

of the family

Cuculidae 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 sometimes separ ...

. It is native to Central and South America where it occurs in lowland tropical forest.

Description

The pheasant cuckoo is a large cuckoo with a short crest tipped with rusty brown. The bird's upper parts are dark sooty-brown and the underparts are pale buff with small black streaks on the breast. The feathers of the large tail are of varying lengths, with the central ones being the longest. The call consists of two short whistles, the second being of higher pitch, followed by a trill "whee! whee! wheerr-rr". It can be sung from low, medium, or high perches or from the ground.

Behaviour

Breeding

The breeding season in Mexico appears to be March through August when the males sing. In

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

breeding is from April to June while in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

calling most frequent from mid-April to July, i.e. from the onset of wet season. There is little information about territorial behaviour. Males respond to singing males with counter-singing or by a strutting display involving head and crest raised, breast feathers puffed out and wings partially extended to show white spots with tail coverts arched. This display can be performed while voicing low grunts and guttural clicks or silently. The pheasant cuckoo is one of three New World members of the Cuculidae which is brood parasitic. The precise details of its breeding biology are little known except for a list of known host species including tyrant flycatchers in the genus '' Myiozetetes'', yellow-olive flatbill,

eye-ringed flatbill The eye-ringed flatbill (''Rhynchocyclus brevirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama, with a slight incursion into ...

pied water tyrant The pied water tyrant (''Fluvicola pica'') is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds in tropical South America from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia. Taxonomy The pied water tyrant was described by the French poly ...

and barred antshrike, all of which are sub-oscine

passerines A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

. As with other parasitic cuckoos, parental care of eggs and young is provided by the host species.

Feeding

This is an insectivorous species and its food includes grasshoppers,

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s and

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s; occasionally also small lizards and nestlings. It has a stylized terrestrial foraging behaviour which includes rattling sounds made by vibrating its plumage and bill clapping while the bird stands with body, wing and tail bobbing before lunging forward with several short steps, before pecking in the leaf litter for potential prey.

Distribution and habitat

The bird's natural habitat is the understorey of tropical lowland evergreen forest, riverine forest, and tropical deciduous forest, from the sea level up to 1600 m. It is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

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Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Colombia, Costa Rica,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de 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 ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

References

*Lowther, Peter E. 2010. Pheasant Cuckoo (Dromococcyx phasianellus), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=24182 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1004548 pheasant cuckoo Birds of Brazil Birds of Central America Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Mexico Brood parasites pheasant cuckoo Taxonomy articles created by Polbot