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Bay-breasted Cuckoo | Coccyzus rufigularis
Hispaniolaregenkoekoek | Cuco de lluvia de La Española
The Bay-breasted Cuckoo is a large, endangered cuckoo found only on Hispaniola, today almost exclusively in the Dominican Republic. There it is called cúa or tacó. It has become rare through forest loss and through hunting, which partly stems from superstition and folk medicine. Together with Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo it was formerly placed in the genus Hyetornis.
Voice
A forceful cua, often followed by an accelerating u-ak-u-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak. Also a bleating sound reminiscent of a lamb.
Recording: Mitch Walters — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
46–51 cm, about half of it tail. The upperparts are grey, with chestnut in the primaries; the face is grey too. Chin, throat and breast are dark chestnut, the belly paler rufous. The bill is heavy and decurved, with a black upper mandible and a yellow lower mandible. The long, graduated tail is dark with white tips. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo Coccyzus longirostris lives in the same forests and is almost as large, but has a long, nearly straight bill, red bare skin around the eye and a pale grey breast between a rufous throat and belly; it lacks the dark chestnut breast and yellow lower mandible of Bay-breasted Cuckoo. Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor is much smaller, with a black mask and buff underparts. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus is also much smaller and white below.
Habitat
Lowlands and foothills up to at least 900 m, especially in the narrow transition zone between dry and moist broadleaf forest. It eats large insects, caterpillars and grubs, lizards and mice; the young are fed mainly on cicadas. The nest is placed 3 to 6 m above the ground in a tree or dense shrub. The breeding season runs from February to the start of the wet season in June; the clutch is two or three eggs.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Only on Hispaniola. In the Dominican Republic mainly in the south-west and west: the Sierra de Bahoruco and the Sierra de Neiba, with the area around Puerto Escondido and La Descubierta, also around Azua and Baní, in Elías Piña province around Bánica and Pedro Santana, and in Nalga de Maco National Park. There are very few records from Haiti, where the species may have disappeared from most of the country. It does not occur outside Hispaniola.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The forest edges around Puerto Escondido at the foot of the Sierra de Bahoruco are the best-known area, but even there the species is scarce and secretive. The call, in the breeding season mainly early in the morning, is the best lead. Key features are the size of a large cuckoo, the dark chestnut breast and the yellow lower mandible.
Conservation status
Endangered. The population is estimated at 300 to 2,900 mature birds and is declining. The main causes are deforestation for agriculture and charcoal production, degradation of the forest by grazing, and hunting. In rural areas the bird is killed out of superstition and its meat is used in folk medicine, among other things as a remedy for joint complaints and to stimulate children's appetite. The Sierra de Bahoruco and Nalga de Maco are protected areas.
Scientific name
Coccyzus rufigularis | Hartlaub, 1852 (GBIF: Hyetornis rufigularis)
Hartlaub described the species in 1852 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Coccyzus was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. Coccyzus is Greek, from kokkuzō 'to cry cuckoo', after the cuckoo's call. rufigularis is Latin, from rufus 'rufous' and gula 'throat', after the rufous throat. The specimen the first description was based on came from mountain forests of the Dominican Republic.