Grey-bellied Cuckoo

Grey-bellied Cuckoo

Cacomantis passerinus

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

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Thiruvananthapuram

In 3 days <5%

10 Verified sightings at Thiruvananthapuram
1,330 In all 17 parks From 2019 to 2026
October Best month
🌅 Crepuscular When it's spotted

About the Grey-bellied Cuckoo

The grey-bellied cuckoo or the Indian plaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis passerinus) is a cuckoo with widespread occurrence throughout Asia. The grey-bellied cuckoo is one of the smaller cuckoos, at a total length of about 23 cm. Adults are mainly grey with a white lower belly and undertail. There is a white patch on the wings. Some females are dark-barred reddish brown above with an unbarred tail and have strongly dark-barred whitish underparts. The juvenile resembles the female but is of a duller grey.

The grey-bellied cuckoo breeds in tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to south China and Indonesia. It has been reported from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is a short-distance migrant, since birds at more northerly latitudes and on higher ground are summer visitors, leaving for warmer areas in winter. The species prefers light woodland and cultivated areas.

The grey-bellied cuckoo is a brood parasite and uses warblers as hosts. It lays a single egg. Its diet consists of a variety of insects and caterpillars. This is a noisy species, with a persistent and loud... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:40

India · 2023

© Amar Kumar Nayak · XC805770 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song1:15

India · 2021

© Kandarp Andharia · XC663615 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Recording0:36

India · 2020

© Virag Sharma · XC599060 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~30%
2 Yala National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~20%
3 Wilpattu National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
~10%
4 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Mudumalai National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
8 Minneriya National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
<5%
9 Royal Bardia National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
<5%
10 Jim Corbett National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
11 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
12 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
13 Royal Manas National Park 🇧🇹 Bhutan
<5%
14 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
<5%
15 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
16 Sundarbans National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
17 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Hyderabad 🇮🇳 India
~10%
2 Solapur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
3 Nagpur 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Surat 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Nashik 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Vasai-Virar 🇮🇳 India
<5%
7 Jabalpur 🇮🇳 India
<5%
8 Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 🇮🇳 India
<5%
9 Vadodara 🇮🇳 India
<5%
10 Raipur 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Grey-bellied Cuckoo in Thiruvananthapuram?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Grey-bellied Cuckoo sighting in Thiruvananthapuram on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 150th most-seen of the 174 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 Grey-bellied Cuckoo in Thiruvananthapuram?

Any time of year

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

What time of day is best to see a Grey-bellied Cuckoo?

Between 3 and 6 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grey-bellied Cuckoo 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.

Is Thiruvananthapuram the best place to see a Grey-bellied Cuckoo?

27th of 34

Of the 34 cities where we can rate Grey-bellied Cuckoo sightings, Thiruvananthapuram ranks 27th at under 5%. The best odds are in Hyderabad (India, about 10%), Solapur (India, about 10%) and Nagpur (India, about 10%).

Which relatives of the Grey-bellied Cuckoo live in Thiruvananthapuram?

Same family: Cuculidae

The closest relatives of the Grey-bellied Cuckoo that you can see in Thiruvananthapuram (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Greater Coucal (about 80%), Asian Koel (about 70%) and Jacobin Cuckoo (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Grey-bellied Cuckoo sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Grey-bellied Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Thiruvananthapuram (10 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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