Himalayan Cuckoo, 5/6/2012

One birdwatching friend said four Himalayan Cuckoos had arrived in Cingshuei Wetland at Jinshan District of New Taipei City. The first time I saw a Himalayan Cuckoo was through some birdwatching fans' blogs and felt odd about its Chinese name. In Chinese, its name is the same as the plant "azalea". And we even have a famous song called "azalea" in Chinese. Strangely enough, how come a bird is named "azalea"? After searching the web, I found there are a whole family of birds called "CUCULIDAE", including Lesser Coucal and Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, which I used to photograph before. Although Lesser Coucals are common local species here in Taiwan, but they are shy and not easy to be spotted. Chestnut-winged Cuckoos are even harder to be spotted and photographed here, since they belong to disoriented birds in Taiwan and only appear in Taiwan if they are disoriented during their migration. On the contrary, according to birdwatching fans' blogs, Himalayan Cuckoos are common summer migratory birds in Taiwan and are easy to be spotted. It looks like these four Himalayan Cuckoos are trying to prove the birdwatching fans are right, by appearing four at one time and staying at the same area for over two weeks. According to other birdwatching fans, these four Cuckoos are still there on May 13th. Since they are summer migratory birds in Taiwan, does that mean they won't leave until the end of this summer?

The sound of Himalayan Cuckoos is like "boo-goo..., boo-goo". It's said that the whole CUCULIDAE family sounds like "boo-goo, boo-goo". That's why the CUCULIDAE birds are generally called "boo-goo birds" here in Taiwan. Himalayan Cuckoos' outlook is unique, though they are not bright-colored-and-beautiful. Generally speaking, the size of the CUCULIDAE birds are not small. This is true with Himalayan Cuckoo, which has about the same size as Rock Dove. The pictures below are somewhat blurred, since what I used is a compact digital camera, not a SLR camera. I appologize if they hurt your eye.


Photographed at Cingshuei Wetland, Jinshan District, New Taipei City



Photographed at Cingshuei Wetland, Jinshan District, New Taipei City



Photographed at Cingshuei Wetland, Jinshan District, New Taipei City

Chinese name:	中杜鵑
English name:	Himalayan Cuckoo
Nickname:
Scientific name:	Cuculus saturatus
Order:	CUCULIFORMES
Family:	CUCULIDAE
Species status:	Species
Conservation status:	Least Concern
Migration status:	Summer migratory birds in Taiwan
Frequency of appearance:	Common in Taiwan
Foods:	Reptiles, small animals, insects, fruits
Habitat:	Treetops on hills
Altitude:	Low altitude
Behavior:	Appear alone. They like to perch on electric wires and leafless tree branches. They don't build nest. Instead, they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. Let other birds hatch their eggs and raise their baby birds. Record shows the Himalayan Cuckoos used to lay their eggs in the nest of Yellow-bellied Prinia in Taiwan. When one baby bird is hatched, it will kick all other eggs out of the nest.
Characteristics:	General Characteristics: About 32 cm long. Its head, breast and back are light blueish gray. Its wings and tail are also blueish gray, but darker. The lower neck is a little bit brown. Its eye color is orange, with yellow eyering. There are many horizontal black stripes on belly. Feet color is orange. There is a reddish female bird, with reddish brown back covered with horizontal black stripes. Its belly is yellowish brown, also covered with horizontal black stripes.
Breeding places:	The Himalayas, Pakistan, Nepal, northern India, northern Myanmar, Southeast Asia, southern China, etc.
Migration destinations:	Wintering in Indonesia and the Philippines, etc. Summering in Taiwan, etc.
Time photographed:	5/1/2012, 5/6/2012
Location found:	Jinshan District, New Taipei City
Sources:	Internet
Notes: