Little Cuckoo

Little Cuckoo

Piaya minuta

Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Panama City

In 3 days <5%

26 Verified sightings at Panama City
573 In all 10 parks From 2019 to 2026
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Little Cuckoo

The little cuckoo (Coccycua minuta) is a species of bird in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) from South America and Panama. It was formerly placed in the genus Piaya, but was moved to the reinstated genus Coccycua following the discovery that its closest living relatives are a couple species traditionally placed in Coccyzus or Micrococcyx, rather than the other members of Piaya.

This species is about 27 centimetres (11 in) long and weighs 40 grams (1.4 oz). The adult is mainly chestnut brown, with a greyish lower belly, browner tail and white tips to the tail feathers. The bill is yellow, short, and decurved; the iris of the eyes is red. Immature birds are dark brown with a black bill and no white tail tips. It is smaller and the throat is darker than in the squirrel cuckoo.

The little cuckoo makes harsh chek and kak calls. This small cuckoo occurs from Panama and Trinidad south through Colombia to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil; in Ecuador, it has been recorded as high up as 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) ASL. The little cuckoo is found in mangrove swamps, and scrubby woodland near water. It is generally believed to be an all-year resident, but... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:19

French Guiana · 2024

© Tristan Guillebot de Nerville · XC1139131 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:13

Brazil · 2024

© JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA · XC949490 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Recording0:15

Colombia · 2021

© David Monroy Rengifo · XC639825 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Caroni Swamp 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
~10%
2 Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas 🇧🇷 Brazil
~10%
3 Yasuní National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
~10%
4 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%
5 Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%
6 Tambopata National Reserve 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%
7 Darién National Park 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%
8 Sierra de la Macarena National Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
9 Amacayacu National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
10 Chapada dos Guimarães National Park 🇧🇷 Brazil
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Panama City 🇵🇦 Panama
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Little Cuckoo in Panama City?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cuckoo sighting in Panama City on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 259th most-seen of the 363 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Little Cuckoo in Panama City?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cuckoo in Panama City on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Little Cuckoo?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where else can you see a Little Cuckoo?

Only Panama City, in our data

Panama City is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Little Cuckoo sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.

Where does the Little Cuckoo sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Little Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Panama City (26 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.

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