Cuculus micropterus
Silhouette: Nicolas Huet le Jeune and Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The Indian cuckoo or short-winged cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, that is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It ranges from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and north to China and Russia. It is a solitary and shy bird, found in forests and open woodland at up to 3,600 m (11,800 ft).
This is a medium-sized cuckoo with both sexes alike. It has grey upperparts while the underside has broad black barring. The tail is barred with a broad subterminal dark band and a white tip. Young birds have white markings on the crown and white chin and throat contrasting with a dark face. Juveniles are browner and have broad white tips to the head and wing feathers. The eye-ring is gray to yellow (a feature shared with the common hawk-cuckoo). The iris is light brown to reddish. The female differs from the male in being slightly paler grey on the throat and in having more brown on the breast and tail. The barring on the belly is narrower than in the male. Nestlings have an orange-red mouth and yellow flanges to the gape.
The call is loud with four notes. They have been transcribed... Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Cuckoo sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 70 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 94th most-seen of the 169 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.
April
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Cuckoo in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian 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 32
Of the 32 parks where we can rate Indian Cuckoo sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kanha National Park (India, about 30%), Bandhavgarh National Park (India, about 20%) and Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, about 20%).
Same family: Cuculidae
The closest relatives of the Indian 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 Indian Cuckoo is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (70 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.
