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 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 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,

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 ''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 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. 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 South Asia Birds of Bangladesh Birds of Southeast Asia banded bay cuckoo