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 sometimes separ ...

found in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. Like others in the genus they have a round nostril. 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'' and ''

Cacomantis variolosus The brush cuckoo (''Cacomantis variolosus'') is a member of the cuckoo family. The brush cuckoo is native to Malesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and northern and eastern Australia. It is a grey-brown bird with a buff breast. Its call is a ...

''. 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 natural history, naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and List of explorers, explorer. He described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in th ...

. 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 bakes and sometimes 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 history Since grains ha ...

, 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 The white-bellied erpornis (''Erpornis zantholeuca'') or simply erpornis is a species of bird. It is the only member of the genus ''Erpornis''. This bird is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, ...

, scarlet minivet, bulbuls and small babblers ('' Stachyris'' 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 from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

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 are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through Odisha, Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut ...

. 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 The banded bay cuckoo or bay-banded cuckoo (''Cacomantis sonneratii'') is a species of small cuckoo found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Like others in the genus they have a round nostril. They are usually founded in well wooded a ...

Birds of South Asia Birds of Bangladesh Birds of Southeast Asia