SKY SCANNER
The greater coucal is a big bird which prefers to hop
The greater coucal is a colourful albeit bashful big bird which prefers to hop but sure knows how to carry a tune.
The greater coucal is a very attractive bird with its deep ruby red eyes, black and purplish plumage all over except for the wings and back. The wings and back are chestnut brown. Its long thick tail is a glossy dark green. The contrast between chestnut and black is very conspicuous in adults. It has strong legs and feet which are darkish grey. Both sexes look similar making it difficult to distinguish the male from the female. They have a thick strong black bill.
Juveniles have black streaks on the chestnut parts and whitish streaks on the blackish parts. Their eyes are not bright red as in the adults but rather a paler brownish grey.
It is also known as crow pheasant or coucal.
This is a big bird with a weak flight which prefers to hop rather than fly. The coucal flies at low elevations with heavy beating of the wings. Greater coucals are seen to hop around from tree to tree and are mostly seen on the ground walking around foraging for food.
While foraging for food it walks slowly like a pheasant, with its tail held horizontal. It hunts on the ground and may break into an active run when chasing a prey. Sometimes it also picks up some vegetation like wild poisonous berries.
Its diet includes a variety of food from small animals like rats and snakes to lizards and eggs from the nests of other birds. Cases of greater coucal eating newly born nestlings have also been reported.
The greater coucal belongs to the cuckoo family of cuculidaes. It looks like a pheasant but is not a brood parasite. This monogamous bird is quite often seen in dense vegetation areas, jungles, scrubs, mangroves, marshes and even in gardens.
The greater coucal loves to sun itself. It is very often seen alone or in pairs sunning itself on the open tree branches in the early morning hours or late afternoons. It is shy bird, upon noticing observers around it quickly takes a short flight to any tree nearby and quickly swoops lower into the areas of dense vegetation.
This variety of coucal is monogamous. The male serenades the female by bringing it food. If the female accepts the male as her mate, she lowers her tail signalling to the male that his offerings have been accepted. The mating season in India is between February and September but may vary locally.
Nests are built with grass, twigs and leaves hidden behind a bush. The nest is generally cup-shaped and may have a dome. The female usually lays about three to six white eggs which take about two weeks to incubate and hatch. Both parents share the nest-building and babysitting and feeding responsibilities.
This ruby-eyed greater coucal is a singer, it has genes of the cuckoo family and so catches the fancy of some bird collectors. The population is not under threat at the moment but one must do whatever possible to save wildlife.
The photographs alongside have been shot in Goa, Mumbai and in Maharashtra regions of India and in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. However this bird is widely seen all over Southeast Asia as well as China.