The chestnut-breasted malkoha (''Phaenicophaeus curvirostris'') 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 sometimes separ ...

in 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 separa ...

. Found in Southeast Asia from Myanmar through to eastern Java, the Philippines and Borneo, it is a large cuckoo measuring up to with grey and dark green upperparts and chestnut underparts, and a large curved pale upper mandible. The male and female are similar in plumage. Unlike many cuckoos, it builds its nest and raises its own young.Payne, p. 297

Taxonomy

The chestnut-breasted malkoha was first described from a specimen collected in western

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

by English naturalist George Shaw in 1810 as ''Cuculus curvirostris'', before the genus ''

Phaenicophaeus ''Phaenicophaeus'' is a genus of 6 species of cuckoos in the family Cuculidae. References External links * *{{Wikispecies-inline, Phaenicophaeus Bird genera Phaenicophaeus ...

'' was erected by English naturalist

James Francis Stephens James Francis Stephens (16 September 1792 – 22 December 1852) was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume '' Illustrations of British Entomology'' (1846) and the ''Manual of British Beetles'' (1839). Early l ...

in 1815. Its specific epithet is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''curvus'' "curved", and ''rostrum'' "beak". The genus name is derived 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 p ...

''phoiniko-'' "crimson", and ' "eyes" or "face", referring to the

red-faced malkoha The red-faced malkoha (''Phaenicophaeus pyrrhocephalus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. This malkoha species is endemic to Sri Lanka Description This is a large species at 46 cm with a long graduated tail. I ...

. However, the 'œ' was transcribed incorrectly as 'æ'.

Subspecies

Six subspecies are recognised: *''P. c. singularis'': from southern Myanmar and Thailand, through the Malay Peninsula and into Sumatra, as well as the Anambas archipelago. *''P. c. oeneicaudus'': from western Sumatra Islands. *''P. c. curvirostris'': from central and western Java. *''P. c. deningeri'': from eastern Java and Bali. *''P. c. microrhinus'': from

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. *''P. c. harringtoni'': from

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

Balabac Balabac Island is the southernmost island of the Palawan province, and therefore the westernmost undisputed island in the Philippines, only about north from Sabah, Malaysia, across the Balabac Strait. Administratively, the island forms the main ...

, Calamian and

Dumaran Dumaran, officially the Municipality of Dumaran ( tgl, Bayan ng Dumaran), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Palawan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 23,528 people. The municipality covers the sout ...

islands of the

province of the western Philippines.

Description

Measuring in length, the chestnut-breasted malkoha has a large, curved, pale yellow upper mandible and darker red or black lower mandible, and a bare red patch of rough skin around the eye. The head is grey and wings are dark green fading to blue with age. Its underparts and rump are chestnut, and feet are dark grey. Little sexual dimorphism is seen, as the male and female are similar in plumage, although the male has a pale blue iris and the female yellow.

Distribution and habitat

It is found in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, the western

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and southern

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It resides mainly in the middle story in dense foliage. Much of its forest habitat is being cleared.

Feeding

It eats small vertebrates, such as small lizards, frogs, and baby birds, and insects, including caterpillars, grasshoppers, cicadas, stick insects, mantises, cockroaches, beetles, and bugs, as well as spiders and small crabs.

Breeding

Unlike many cuckoos, the chestnut-breasted malkoha builds its nest and raises its own young. Breeding season varies by location, from August to December in Borneo, to January to September in Southeast Asia. The male and female pair up and build a nest around diameter of small branches and twigs, with a leaf-lined depression or cup around in diameter and deep. Two or three matte white eggs measuring 34 x 28 mm are laid. Both the female and male incubate the eggs, which usually hatch around 13 days after being laid. Young birds remain in the nest for around 11 days, during which time they are fed by both parents.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2017168 chestnut-breasted malkoha Birds of Malesia chestnut-breasted malkoha Taxonomy articles created by Polbot