Hawk-cuckoo? Kinabatabgan, Sabah, Borneo (1 Viewer)

[RobertaG]

Can't work this one out, thought it was a juvenile hawk-cuckoo, but if so which? Taken from across the river with maximum zoom, so it was way distant and it didn't turn around! I have no other shots. Any help appreciated!

Thanks

Roberta

Edit - title should say Kinabatangan !

 

[Frogfish]

Hi Roberta,

Going from Phillipps' and the obvious options :

Moustached Hawk-Cuckoo : The banding on the tail looks too regular and there is no obvious cheek barring.

Javan Hawk-Cuckoo : possible but prefers montane. no obvious black band on the bill. Tail seems too narrow but maybe immature as the banding is non-regular on the adult and irregular on the immature. Difficult to see from your shot but I can't make out the yellow eye-ring either.

Oriental Cuckoo : This looks good. Banding on the tail and overall colour for female, the banding on the underside also 'looks' like it is wider. Also they prefer lowland forest. But this is a scarce winter visitor.

Take your pick but maybe wait for a more knowledgeable opinion

 

[ljs]

Looks like a hepatic female himalayan cuckoo.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I've never seen any kind of hawk-cuckoo perched out in the open (like this bird), so that could be a clue. Anyone have any contradictory experiences to this?

 

[RobertaG]

Thanks everyone. I had assumed hawk-cuckoo because of the way it is perched, so upright?, but I take your point Larry

Frogfish - I had checked Phillips but because illustrations rarely show such a back view I couldn't come to any conclusions, looking at Robson seems to make juvenile Indian a possibility as well as LJS's suggestion of Himalyan.

Any other opinions out there?