The chestnut-bellied cuckoo (''Coccyzus pluvialis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the tribe Phaenicophaeini, subfamily Cuculinae of the cuckoo 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

.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: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin , fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich GmelinFerdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , doctora ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...

''. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Cuculus ''Cuculus'' is a genus of cuckoos which has representatives in most of the Old World, although the greatest diversity is in tropical southern and southeastern Asia. Taxonomy The genus ''Cuculus'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Cuculus pluvialis''. Gmelin based his account on those of earlier authors include that of the Irish physician, naturalist and collector

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

. Between 1687 and 1689 Sloane lived in Jamaica. In the account of his stay, which was not published until 1725, he described the chestnut-bellied cuckoo under the names "Old-Man" and "Raine-bird" and explained that "It makes a noise generally before rain, whence it had its name of Rain Bird". The chestnut-bellied cuckoo is now placed with 12 other species in the genus ''

Coccyzus ''Coccyzus'' is a genus of cuckoos which occur in the Americas. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kokkuzo'', which means to call like a common cuckoo. The genus includes the lizard cuckoos that were formerly included in the genus ''Sauroth ...

'' that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist

Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collecte ...

. The genus name is from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

''kokkuzō'' meaning "to cry cuckoo". The specific epithet ''pluvialis'' is Latin meaning "relating to rain". The chestnut-bellied cuckoo was at one time placed in genus ''Piaya'' which was later merged into genus ''Hyetornis''. That genus was in turn merged into the current ''Coccyzus''. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo is long, about half of which is the tail, and weighs . The species' blackish bill is stout and decurved. Males and females have the same plumage. Adults have dull brown upperparts, a light gray face and breast with a paler throat, and a dark rufous belly. Their tail is black with large white tips and a purple gloss. Juveniles have a dark brown tail with white tips but no gloss.Payne, R. B. (2020). Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo (''Coccyzus pluvialis''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chbcuc4.01 retrieved September 26, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo is found throughout most of Jamaica. It inhabits mature

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

, thickets and brushy areas, and semi-open woodlands. In elevation it ranges from sea level to above .

Behavior

Movement

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo moves to the lower elevations of its range during winter.

Feeding

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo has a varied diet that includes adult insects, caterpillars, lizards, nestling birds, and eggs. It forages mostly from the forest mid-story to the canopy, running along branches and gliding from tree to tree. It usually forages alone.

Breeding

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo's breeding season is usually between March and June but may start in February. It makes a shallow twig nest in a tree at up to above the ground. The clutch size is two to four eggs; the incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

The chestnut-bellied cuckoo's principal vocalization is a " arse 'quak-quak-ak-ak-ak-ak', slow, then accelerating towards heend."

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the chestnut-bellied cuckoo as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon and not well known, and "further research and a proper survey of this species’ population and status are needed."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1268564

chestnut-bellied cuckoo The chestnut-bellied cuckoo (''Coccyzus pluvialis'') is a species of bird in the tribe Phaenicophaeini, subfamily Cuculinae of the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Jamaica.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of ...

Endemic birds of Jamaica

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot