The Malaysian hawk-cuckoo or Malay hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx fugax'') is a

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 family Cuculidae formerly considered conspecific with

Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx nisicolor''), also known as the whistling hawk-cuckoo is a species of cuckoo found in north-eastern India, Myanmar, southern China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country ...

and the

rufous hawk-cuckoo The rufous hawk-cuckoo or northern hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx hyperythrus'') is a bird in the family Cuculidae formerly thought to be conspecific with Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx fugax'') and placed in the genus '' Cuculus''. Geographic ...

. All three species were previously assigned as ''Cuculus fugax''.

Geographic Range

''Hierococcyx fugax'' is found in far southern

Burma 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 ...

, 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 bo ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

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 eas ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and 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 List ...

Habitat

The Malaysian hawk-cuckoo occurs in a variety of

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' ...

types from

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

s level up to 1700 metres on

. It can also be found in

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and rubber plantations.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, mainly caterpillars, but also cicadas, beetles, small butterflies and locusts, in addition fruits and berries. Active in bushes and understorey, gleaning prey from foliage.

Behaviour

Hawk-cuckoos Hierococcyx or hawk-cuckoos is a genus of birds in the family Cuculidae. The resemblance to hawks gives this group the generic name of hawk-cuckoos. It is sometimes included in the genus Cuculus. Species * Moustached hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx ...

are

brood parasites Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

and recorded hosts include the

white-rumped shama The white-rumped shama (''Copsychus malabaricus'') is a small passerine bird of the family Muscicapidae. Native to densely vegetated habitats in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, its popularity as a cage-bird and songster has led to it ...

and the

grey-headed canary flycatcher The grey-headed canary-flycatcher (''Culicicapa ceylonensis''), sometimes known as the grey-headed flycatcher, is a species of small flycatcher-like bird found in tropical Asia. It has a square crest, a grey hood and yellow underparts. They are ...

References

Malaysian hawk-cuckoo The Malaysian hawk-cuckoo or Malay hawk-cuckoo (''Hierococcyx fugax'') is a bird in the family Cuculidae formerly considered conspecific with Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo and the rufous hawk-cuckoo. All three species were previously assigned as ''Cuculus ...

Birds of Malesia

{{Cuculiformes-stub