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Project Noah Nature School
Centropus sinensis
Greater Coucal is a large species of cuckoo at 48 cm. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red
Spotted on Jan 18, 2012
Submitted on Jan 22, 2012
4 Comments
Wow
Thanks Sanjay & Nopayahnah ...The calls also has a booming low coop-coop-coops repeated and with variations and some duets between individuals. When duetting the female has a lower pitched call. Other calls include a rapid rattling "lotok, lotok ..." and a harsh scolding "skeeaaaw" and a hissing threat call.
beautifully colored bird!
VOICE:
Greater Coucal’s song is often uttered in duet with other Coucal. It is a deep “coop-coop-coop-coop-coop”, low-pitched. It gives this sound in particular posture, with buttressed body, and with head and neck convulsed downwards. This attitude favours sound propagation over long distances, with ground used as reflector.