Cacomantis passerinus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 9 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 10 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 14 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 15 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 17 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Solapur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Nagpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Surat | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Nashik | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Jabalpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Vadodara | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Raipur | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grey-bellied Cuckoo sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 51 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April and December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Grey-bellied Cuckoo in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to October, the lowest months.
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.
3rd of 17
Of the 17 parks where we can rate Grey-bellied Cuckoo sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Udawalawe National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Grey-bellied Cuckoo that you can see in Wilpattu National Park (family Cuculidae, Cuckoos) are Greater Coucal (about 40%), Blue-faced Malkoha (about 30%) and Asian Koel (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grey-bellied Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (51 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.
