Centropus sinensis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The greater coucal or crow pheasant (Centropus sinensis), is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is divided into several subspecies, some being treated as full species. They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in a wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. They are weak fliers, and are often seen clambering about in vegetation or walking on the ground as they forage for insects, eggs and nestlings of other birds. They have a familiar deep resonant call which is associated with omens in many parts of its range.
This is a large species of cuckoo at 48 cm. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red. Juveniles are duller black with spots on the crown and there are whitish bars on the underside and tail. There are several geographic races and some of these populations are sometimes treated as full species. Earlier treatments included the brown coucal (C.... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Hajipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Raipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Durg | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Solapur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Visakhapatnam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Coucal sighting in Bandhavgarh National Park on a given day, based on 929 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 241 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March, May and August
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Coucal in Bandhavgarh National Park on a given day, against about 40% in July and December, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
4th of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Greater Coucal sightings, Bandhavgarh National Park ranks 4th at about 50%. The best odds are in Keoladeo National Park (India, about 70%), Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam, about 60%) and Kanha National Park (India, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Greater Coucal that you can see in Bandhavgarh National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Common Hawk-Cuckoo (about 40%), Indian Cuckoo (about 20%) and Asian Koel (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Bandhavgarh National Park (929 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
