Chest-Winged Cuckoo

Description

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Context: For the last four years, a widely-held view among birders is that the Nanmangalam reserve forest is a favourite pit stop for the chestnut-winged cuckoo, a passage migrant for Chennai.

Details:

About:

The chestnut-winged cuckoo (Clamator coromandus) belongs to the family of cuckoos, Cuculidae.
These cuckoo species are distributed in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, southeast China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands (India), Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines.
They are monotypic species. The chestnut-winged cuckoo species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.

Taxonomy of Chestnut-winged cuckoo:

Scientific Name: Clamator coromandus
Common Name: Chestnut-winged cuckoo
Family: Cuculidae › Cuculiformes › Aves › Chordata › Animalia
The chestnut-winged cuckoo was earlier included in the genus Cuculus.

Description and identification:

The chestnut-winged cuckoo is a small bird, measuring 35 to 45 cm in length and weighing 60 to 90 grams.
The plumage is metallic glossy black.

Ecosystem and habitat:

The chestnut-winged cuckoo ecosystem includes tropical and temperate deciduous/evergreen forests. They inhabit riparian woodlands, swamp forests, deciduous jungles, light secondary forests and thick scrub jungles.

Movement and migration patterns:

These chestnut-winged cuckoo species are mostly migratory and breed during summer in north India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, southeast China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
They winter in south India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands (India), Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Some cuckoo populations are resident and may make local movements for feeding and breeding.

Conservation status and concerns:

The global population size of these chestnut-winged cuckoo species has not been quantified.
The overall population trend is considered to be stable.
It has extremely large range and does not approach the thresholds for population trend criterion and the population size criterion.
Hence considered not "Vulnerable" to extinction. The loss of habitats due to human activities is the main threat to the survival of these cuckoo species.
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has categorized and evaluated these chestnut-winged cuckoo species and has listed them as of "Least Concern".