Centropus sinensis
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% 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 40% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Coucal sighting in Hyderabad on a given day, based on 1,445 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 17th most-seen of the 194 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April, June and December
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Coucal in Hyderabad on a given day, against about 40% in January–February, May and July–November, the lowest months. Those are among Hyderabad's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in August.
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.
37th of 90
Of the 90 cities where we can rate Greater Coucal sightings, Hyderabad ranks 37th at about 40%. The best odds are in Thiruvananthapuram (India, about 80%), Hajipur (India, about 70%) and Raipur (India, about 70%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Greater Coucal that you can see in Hyderabad (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Asian Koel (about 70%), Grey-bellied Cuckoo (about 10%) and Common Hawk-Cuckoo (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 Hyderabad (1,445 verified sightings), 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.
