Banded Bay Cuckoo - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by cskhaw
Air Itam dam, Penang, Malaysia, August 2005

Cacomantis sonneratii

Identification

24cm

Bright reddish-brown or bay above with darker barring
White line under eye
Tail has a black band and white tip
Iris yellow to brown
Bill black

Distribution

Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, southwest China, Thailand and Indochina, Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Palawan, Java, Bali.

Nominate subspecis
Photo © by Alok Tewari
St Tal Forest, Alt. 5000 ft., Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, October-2018

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

C. s. waiti :

Sri Lanka

C. s. sonneratii:

India to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, southern Indochina and Malay Peninsula

C. s. fasciolatus:

Sumatra, Borneo and Palawan (south-western Philippines)

C. s. musicus:

Java

Habitat

Forest edges, broadleaf evergreen forests, plantations and wooded areas.

Photo © by the late Dr Manjeet Singh
F.R.I.M. , Sg BuloH, Selangor, Malaysia, January 2008

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes caterpillars and bugs.

Breeding

It is a brood parasite; the nestlings ejecting host eggs and chicks.

References

Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
Answers.com
Birdforum Member observations

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Banded Bay Cuckoo. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Banded_Bay_Cuckoo

External Links

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