The Indian Subcontinent provides suitable habitats to various species of birds for residing and reproducing. Cuckoos are no exception in this regard. Different types of cuckoos have been recorded in India. These cuckoos are described below.
Plaintive Cuckoo
Plaintive Cuckoo is native to India. An adult male cuckoo is identified as a bird which is grey-brown above and orange below. It has a grey-colored head, throat and upper breast. It has red eye and its bill is black above and yellow below. It has yellow-colored legs and feet. The adult female is sometimes similar to the male but is often evident in a hepatic morph. The bird in 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 its tail has dark bars along the whole length.
Violet Cuckoo
Violet Cuckoo is found in northeast India and is mainly violet in color. A male cuckoo has glossy violet feathers on its head and upper parts of the body. It also has brightly iridescent violet chin and upper breast. It has white belly with broad black, green or violet bars. The eye-ring of a mature male is red in color. Its female counterpart has a dark brown-colored crown and white markings around the eyes and sometimes on the forehead. Its upper parts are mottled and greenish-bronze. It has whitish breast with bronze-green bars and variably washed rufous markings.
Common Hawk Cuckoo
Common Hawk Cuckoo is a resident bird of India. This cuckoo can be described as a bird which is ashy grey above and whitish below, being cross-barred in brown. Its eye ring is yellow in color and its tail is broadly barred. A sub-adult cuckoo has streaked breast and there are large brown chevron marks on the belly. Male and female Cuckoos are known to be similar.
Banded Bay Cuckoo
Banded Bay Cuckoo can be identified as having bright rufous or bay on the head and back and are broadly barred in dark brown. It has yellow iris and black bill, which is long and slightly curved. The base of its lower mandible is greenish grey. Above the dark eye-line, this bird has a whitish supercilium. Its tail has a subterminal black band.
Jacobin Cuckoo
Jacobin Cuckoo is found south of the Himalayas in India. This bird has a slim black and white body. Its white wing patch on the black wing helps to recognize this bird even in flight.
Other Indian Cuckoos
Some of the other Indian Cuckoos are Oriental Cuckoo, Chestnut-Winged Cuckoo and Large Hawk-Cuckoo.
