Asian Drongo-Cuckoo

The Asian Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris is a species of cuckoo that resembles a Black Drongo. It can be easily distinguished by its straight beak and the white barred vent. It is a brood parasite on small babblers. It is not known how or whether the drongo-like appearance benefits this species but it is suspected that it aids in brood-parasitism just as hawk-cuckoos appear like hawks.^[2]

It shares the genus Surniculus with the Philippine Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus velutinus which is sometimes treated as a subspecies of S. lugubris, but can be separated as a species on the basis of vocalization and juvenile plumage.

Some recent work suggests that the species may need to be split into two based on call and morphological differences:^[3][4]

• Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris including brachyurus, musschenbroeki. This has white bars on vent and outer undertail, tail only notched with slightly flared tips. In flight a white wing-stripe is visible from below. This is found in South East Asia and is a summer visitor to the Himalayas from Kashmir to eastern Bangladesh. The calls are series of piercing sharp whistles rising in pitch but shrill and choppily delivered.^[3]
• Fork-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo (Surniculus dicruroides) - has a deeply forked tail often having a white spot on the back of the head. The race is Sri Lanka stewarti has a shallower fork. Found resident mainly in peninsular India in hill forests although some specimens are known from the Himalayan foothills. They are said to brood parasitic on Dark-fronted Babblers. The song has been described as a series of 5 or 6 whistling "pip-pip-pip-pip-pip-" notes rising in pitch with each "pip".^[3]

References

External links

• Image at ADW
• Pictures of Drongo-cuckoo