Cacomantis merulinus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The plaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) is a species of bird belonging to the genus Cacomantis in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It is native to Asia, from India, Nepal and China to Indonesia. The plaintive cuckoo is fairly small, measuring about 21–24 cm (8.3–9.4 in) long. The adult male is grey-brown above and orange below with a grey head, throat and upper breast. The tail feathers have white tips. The legs and feet are yellow, the eye is red and the bill is black above and yellow below. The adult female is sometimes similar to the male but often occurs in a "hepatic" morph. This form is reddish-brown above with dark bars. The underparts are paler with fainter barring. There is a pale stripe over the eye and the tail has dark bars along its whole length. Juvenile birds are similar to hepatic females but are paler and have dark streaks rather than bars on the crown and throat.
The male has several plaintive whistling calls. These include an ascending series of three-note phrases and a series of 11 or 12 descending notes. There are four subspecies. The nominate form C. m. merulinus is found in the Philippines where it is common... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khao Luang National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 8 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 9 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 10 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 11 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 12 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 13 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 14 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 15 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Kerinci Seblat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 17 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 18 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 19 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 20 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 21 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 22 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Đà Nẵng | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Phnom Penh | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | |
| 3 | Bangkok | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 4 | Hanoi | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 5 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Cần Thơ | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 7 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Zhuhai [Macau] | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Ho Chi Minh City | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 10 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Plaintive Cuckoo sighting in Danum Valley Conservation Area on a given day, based on 264 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 258 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Plaintive Cuckoo in Danum Valley Conservation Area on a given day, against under 5% in September and October, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plaintive Cuckoo sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
6th of 22
Of the 22 parks where we can rate Plaintive Cuckoo sightings, Danum Valley Conservation Area ranks 6th at about 20%. The best odds are in Khao Luang National Park (Thailand, about 40%), Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 30%) and Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plaintive Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Danum Valley Conservation Area (264 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.
