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Little Cuckoo | Coccycua minuta
Kleine eekhoornkoekoek | Cuco menudo | Chincoã-pequeno
The Little Cuckoo resembles a scaled-down Common Squirrel Cuckoo, but is darker rufous and has a shorter tail. It lives hidden in dense, low vegetation along rivers and marshes. Like most American cuckoos it raises its own young and does not lay its eggs in the nests of other birds.
Voice
Not very vocal. A nasal chek or kek and a low, dry rattle; also a short series of descending notes.
Recording: José María Loaiza B. — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
25–28 cm, with a long, graduated tail. The plumage is mostly dark chestnut; throat and breast are slightly paler rufous, the belly greyish to dark grey-brown. The tail is rufous with a blackish subterminal band and narrow white tips, visible mainly from below. The bill is yellowish green; the iris and the bare skin around the eye are red. The sexes are alike; juveniles are duller, with a dark bill and iris.
Confusion species
Common Squirrel Cuckoo Piaya cayana is much larger, with a much longer tail, paler rufous upperparts and a clearly grey belly; it lives higher in the trees. Dwarf Cuckoo Coccycua pumila is smaller, grey-brown above with only the throat and breast rufous. Black-bellied Cuckoo Piaya melanogaster has a red bill, a grey head and a black belly, and lives in the canopy of terra firme forest.
Habitat
Dense scrub and young growth along rivers and lakes, on river islands, in várzea, at forest edges, in marsh vegetation and locally in mangroves, mainly in the lowlands up to about 1000 m. Searches low vegetation for insects, especially caterpillars. The nest is a shallow cup of twigs in a shrub.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Caribbean lowlands, the Magdalena Valley, on the Pacific coast and in the lowlands east of the Andes. In Ecuador mainly in the lowlands east of the Andes, locally also in the northwest. In Peru and Bolivia in the lowlands east of the Andes. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Panama through Venezuela and the Guianas to Amazonian Brazil, and on Trinidad.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along riverbanks and on river islands in the Amazonian lowlands, often on boat trips. It moves slowly through dense vegetation and often stays in one spot for a long time.
Conservation status
Least Concern and widespread. It does well in young, secondary vegetation along water.
Scientific name
Coccycua minuta | (Vieillot, 1817) (GBIF: Piaya minuta)
Vieillot described the species in 1817 as Coccyzus minutus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Coccycua was introduced in 1830 by Lesson. The genus name is a portmanteau of the genus names Coccyzus (cuckoo) and Coua (coua). The species name minuta comes from Latin minutus, 'small'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.