Running cuckoo
| Running cuckoo | ||||||||||
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Running cuckoo ( Carpococcyx radiceus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Carpococcyx radiceus | ||||||||||
| ( Temminck , 1832) |
The running cuckoo ( Carpococcyx radiceus ), also called Borneo running cuckoo , is a species from the family of cuckoo birds that belongs to the so-called running cuckoos . It is a large cuckoo that only occurs in Borneo and its physique is reminiscent of a pheasant. It stays mainly on the ground and rarely flies up in danger, but usually looks for cover in the undergrowth.
Unlike many species within the cuckoo, the running cuckoo is not a brood parasite, but rather raises its offspring itself. The IUCN classifies the walking cuckoo as potentially endangered. He is basically not a common bird. Although it also adopts secondary forest as a habitat, one threat is increasing fragmentation of the forests that make up its habitat. Because of its unpleasant tasting meat, it is not hunted by the indigenous people of Borneo. However, he repeatedly perishes in traps that were set for other game.
features
The walking cuckoo reaches a body length of up to 60 centimeters and is one of the big cuckoos. The tail accounts for an average of around 30 centimeters. The beak, which is slightly bent downwards, is 4.7 centimeters long. There is little data available on the weights of this type of cuckoo. However, a male weighed in August weighed 455 grams, while a female weighed in September weighed 540 grams.
There is no pronounced gender dimorphism . In both males and females, the head, neck, chin, and upper throat are black. The front back is dull greenish-purple, the rear back and the rump are dull reddish with a dark green sparrow. The wing covers are matt green-violet, the wings on the other hand blue-violet with a bronze shimmer. A wide pale purple ring runs across the front chest and the lower sides of the neck. The underside of the body is otherwise whitish to pale brownish and thickly gray-green to dull brown. The sparrowing is most pronounced on the flanks. The control springs are glossy blue-violet on the top and glossy gray-black on the bottom. The iris is brown and surrounded by a gray ring. The wide lid ring is blue-green.
Young birds are similar to adult birds, but have a gray throat and the skull is dark brown-green. The feathers on the back, on the rump and on the large wing covers are lined with reddish brown. The underside of the body is pale to reddish brown. In some individuals the sparrow coat is absent.
distribution and habitat
The running cuckoo is only found on Borneo, an island in the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia . It occurs exclusively in the lowlands of these islands and has been observed there in 50 places in the 21st century. Of these, 10 to 11 are in Sabah , about 15 in Sarawak , 5 in Brunei , 13 in East Kalimantan , four in Central Kalimantan and 5 to 7 in West Kalimantan .
The habitat are dry forests near the river, in which wing fruit plants dominate.
Way of life
The running cuckoo is a shy and difficult bird to watch. It stays mostly on the ground, but is also able to fly through the undergrowth. Occasionally it hops from branch to branch with slightly spread wings. Little is known about reproduction. However, the breeding season seems to fall between February and July.
Two cuckoos were seen following bearded pigs and picking arthropods from the broken earth . They stayed less than 1 meter away from the pigs. Erhitzøe points out that this behavior may be typical of this species of cuckoo: in three out of five languages spoken in East Kalimantan, the bird is referred to as the “pig bird”. Beetles, ants, small snakes, frogs, as well as small seeds and fruits have also been detected in the stomachs of running cuckoos.
literature
- NB Davies: Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats . T & AD Poyser, London 2000, ISBN 0-85661-135-2 .
- Johannes Erhitzøe, Clive F. Mann, Frederik P. Brammer, Richard A. Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-7136-6034-0 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ Quentin Phillipps, Karen Phillipps: Phillipps' Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo . John Beaufoy Publishing, Oxford, UK 2011, ISBN 978-1-906780-56-2 .
- ↑ a b c d Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. P. 208.
- ^ Laufkuckuck in the species list of the IUCN. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2012. Accessed August 16, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World. P. 209.