Chestnut-winged Cuckoo Clamator coromandus
Etymology
- Clamator : Latin clamator, clamatoris – Shouter
- Coromandus: From Coromandel Coast, Karnataka in India
Vernacular name: Lepcha: Tseben, Ta: Konda kuyil, Te: Yerra gola kokila, Mal: Uppan kuyil, Sinh: Ratu konde koha, Hindi: Lal Kuhuk, Mar: Lal Pankhacha Chatak
Distribution in India: Breeds in Himalayas, Sikkim and North East india , Winter visitor to South India
Description: Size of 38–46 cm; Weight of 66·4–86 g. The adult is metallic glossy black above with black spiky crest, narrow white nape-band. The wings are chestnut, and tail is black. The chin to upper breast are rusty, belly is white. The iris is pale brown to dark brown or red, bill is black with grey gonys, tarsi are greyish green. The juvenile is dark olive-brown above and on head with rufous-buff feather edges, buff edge to wing-coverts, tail has buffish or fulvous-white tips and edges. It is white below, becoming smoky over flanks. The irides are hazel and bill base is yellow-orange; at five weeks brown crest with dark buff tip appears; moults to adult plumage at three months.
Habitat: It is found in thick, low vegetation in wooded country, swamp forest and riparian woodland in Assam, scrub and bushes, orchards and plantations, tall reedbeds, cultivated lands and villages. In winter and on migration it is found also in mangroves. It occurs at altitudes of up to 2450 m,
Food Habits: It eats large insects, caterpillars, beetles, mantids, ants, spiders and small fruits. The unpalatable stomach contents of large caterpillars are removed prior to the rest being consumed. Follows mixed-species flocks.
Breeding Habits: They breed in India Apr–Aug . They are brood-parasitic. Their hosts are mainly laughingthrushes (Mainly Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush) ,: Common Magpie Fork-tailed Drongo, Oriental Magpie-robin, Slaty-backed Forktail Blue Whistling-thrush , Orange-headed Thrush, Black-breasted Thrush, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler and Long-tailed Shrike . The eggs are pale blue, unmarked and usually without gloss.