Centropus bengalensis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The lesser coucal (Centropus bengalensis) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It has a wide distribution range that overlaps with several other similar species. The habitat in which it is found is often marshy land with grass and tree cover. It is distinguished by its smaller size, less prominent bill, pale shaft streaks on the feathers of the head and back. It has a much longer claw on its hind toe and a distinct call. It is also among the few coucals that show season plumage differences but like in other coucals, the sexes cannot be distinguished in the field.
The lesser coucal was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus Cuculus and coined the binomial name Cuculus bengalensis. Gmelin based his description on the "lark-heeled cuckoo" from Bengal that had been described and illustrated in 1776 by the English naturalist Peter Brown. The lesser coucal is now one of around 30 species placed in the genus Centropus that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The genus... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chattogram | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 2 | Semarang | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 4 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Bandung | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 7 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Hanoi | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 9 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 10 | Tainan | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Coucal sighting in Chitwan National Park on a given day, based on 391 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 65th most-seen of the 367 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Coucal in Chitwan National Park on a given day, against about 10% in December, the lowest month. That is one of Chitwan National Park's wettest months, with about 400 mm of rain against almost none in November.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Coucal sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Yes
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Lesser Coucal sightings, Chitwan National Park has the highest daily chance: about 30%. Next come Tangkoko Nature Reserve (Indonesia, about 30%) and Manas National Park (India, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Coucal is recorded against all the birds logged in Chitwan National Park (391 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.
