Mangrove cuckoo
| Mangrove cuckoo | ||||||||||
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Mangrove cuckoo ( Coccyzus minor ) |
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| Coccyzus minor | ||||||||||
| ( Gmelin , 1788) |
The mangrove cuckoo ( Coccyzus minor ) is a species from the cuckoo bird family that occurs exclusively in the New World. It breeds mostly in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean and is a resident bird. The US state of Florida is one of its northernmost range, where it is a rare bird. The secretly living mangrove cuckoo is a medium-sized, slender and long-tailed cuckoo that is mostly hidden in the foliage. At times up to 14 subspecies were recognized for the mangrove cuckoo, but today it is classified as monotypical .
Unlike many other cuckoos, the mangrove cuckoo raises its own offspring. In contrast to the black- billed and yellow-billed cuckoo , which belong to the same genus , no facultative brood parasitism is described for the mangrove cuckoo .
Due to its large distribution area and the stable population, the mangrove cuckoo is considered a non-endangered species. In parts of its distribution area, however, it has become rare due to habitat destruction.
features
The mangrove cuckoo reaches a body length of 28 to 34 centimeters; the tail accounts for an average of around 16 centimeters. The beak has a length of 2.9 centimeters. The males weigh an average of 64 grams, the females are a little heavier with an average of 67 grams.
There is no pronounced gender dimorphism . The forehead and skull of both males and females are gray. The neck, top of the body, and the top of the wings are gray-brown. On the underside, the wings are whitish to yellowish brown. A dark gray to black stripe frames the eye and runs to the ear covers, where it becomes wider. The chin and the sides of the neck are white, the throat and the chest are whitish, the rest of the underside of the body is yellowish-brown to cinnamon-colored. In some individuals, the brownish tone on the underside is more pronounced and can even be reddish brown individually. The stepped tail feathers have conspicuous white spots at their ends.
The iris is dark brown to reddish brown, the orbital ring is yellow, the beak is slightly curved, the upper beak is black, the lower beak is yellow to orange-yellow and turns black at the tip.
Fledglings are similar to adult birds. The face mask of the adult birds formed by the dark eye stripe is paler and less noticeable in the young birds. The head plumage is brownier, the underside of the body lighter.
The mangrove cuckoo is very similar to the black-billed cuckoo ; but this lacks the white spots on the control feathers and the beak is solid black. The yellow-billed cuckoo has a similar beak color and also has white spots on the stepped tail feathers, but is white to creamy white on the underside of the body and the dark face mask is missing. The upper plumage is brownish, the reddish brown color of the wings is missing in the mangrove cuckoo. The plumage-like coconut cuckoo occurs only on the coconut island in the Pacific Ocean. Its range does not overlap with that of the mangrove cuckoo.
voice
The mangrove cuckoo is usually not heard during the winter months. On the other hand, his calls can be heard from April to August. He typically calls at dawn and before it rains.
The typical call is a guttural ahrr-ahrr ... that is repeated between 8 and 25 times. He also calls out a slow and nasal sounding ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-gau-gau-go .
Distribution area
The main distribution center of the mangrove cuckoo is in Central America and the Caribbean. However, it also breeds in a narrow coastal strip in southern Florida and on the Florida Keys . In Mexico, the northernmost occurrence is in the state of Sonora and extends in a narrow strip along the Pacific coast to Panama. On the Atlantic coast, the distribution area extends from the south of Tamaulipas to the east of Nicaragua. The mangrove cuckoo is a comparatively rare bird in Costa Rica. It is a breeding bird in most of the West Indies - there are breeding records for Jamaica , the Virgin Islands , Puerto Rico , Hispaniola , Isla Beata , Île de la Tortue , Île à Vache , Isla Saona , Mona , Vieques , Barbuda , Antigua , Guadeloupe , La Désirade , Dominica , Martinique , St. Lucia , St. Vincent , Grenada , the Grenadines , Montserrat and the Bahamas . It also breeds on the Caicos Islands , Grand Turk Island , the Cayman Islands , Islas del Cisne , Providencia and the Corn Islands . In Cuba it occurs predominantly in the eastern coastal regions and on the offshore islands. It is also represented in the coastal regions of Guyana , Suriname and French Guiana . He has also been seen as a stray visitor in Texas, inland Florida, in the northeast of Venezuela and in Brazil.
habitat
The habitat of the mangrove cuckoo is predominantly mangrove forests and tropical hardwood forests. In the Bahamas it can also be found in dense undergrowth and in sparse forests. In Mexico it still occurs at altitudes of 1200 meters and also colonizes bushland. In Costa Rica and Panama it can also be found in gallery forests, on forest edges, and bushy forest clearings. In these two countries, it tends to be more inland than in coastal regions. In the Caribbean it populates mangroves as well as shady coffee plantations and dry bushland, in Puerto Rico it is most often found in thickets along small rivers, while on Hispaniola it also populates dry bushland, which can even be thick with cacti.
food
The food spectrum includes slowly moving, large insects, including large grasshoppers, caterpillars, and cockroaches. It also eats large spiders, tree frogs and lizards. As is typical for many cuckoos, it also consumes hairy caterpillars, which are avoided by most other bird species.
Larger prey are occasionally hit against branches or chopped up in the beak before it is swallowed.
Way of life
The mangrove cuckoo is a very secretive bird species. It only moves slowly through the branches and during the winter months its call cannot be heard either. Only during the morning hours can it occasionally be seen on exposed branches where the sun shines on it.
While foraging for food, it moves slowly and pauses repeatedly to look for moving prey. He picks the insects that he eats from branches and leaves.
Reproduction
The courtship behavior of the mangrove cuckoo has not yet been adequately investigated. Occasionally it has already been observed that the male offers prey to the female before copulation. Similar courtship rituals have also been observed in the closely related yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos. However, there are also observations where pairs of mangrove cuckoos have mated without the male having previously presented the female with a prey. Mating takes place on branches.
In Florida, the mangrove cuckoo breeds between May and July, in Cuba from March to June and in Hispaniola between March and October. The nest is a loose platform made of twigs with a diameter of 15 to 25 centimeters. The inside of the nest is laid out with a few leaves. The nest is erected either in a fork of a branch or on a branch that runs horizontally. Usually the nest is two to three meters above the ground. Both parent birds are involved in building the nest.
The full clutch usually consists of two to three eggs. The eggs are deep blue-green, the shell is smooth and matt. So far nothing is known about the breeding period, the nestlings are fed with insects by both parent birds.
Duration
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The mangrove cuckoo is considered a non-threatened bird species, but it is not always a common bird in its range.
The mangrove cuckoo is a rare bird on the Florida coast and the Florida Keys. There it is particularly threatened by the destruction of its habitat. In the regions of Florida, in which there are even larger populations of mangroves and tropical hardwood forests, it still occurs. Accordingly, the mangrove cuckoo can be found, for example, in Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park , in Biscayne National Park and in the Everglades . In Mexico, on the other hand, the mangrove cuckoo is comparatively common and the same applies to Jamaica and Hispaniola as well as to the West Indies. In contrast, it is an extremely rare bird in Cuba.
literature
- Jonathan Alderfer (Ed.): Complete Birds of Northamerica. National Geographic, Washington DC 2006, ISBN 0-7922-4175-4 .
- Johannes Erhitzøe, Clive F. Mann, Frederik P. Brammer, Richard A. Fuller: Cuckoos of the World (Helm Identification Guide) . Christopher Helm, London 2012, ISBN 978-0-7136-6034-0 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ Alderfer (Ed.): Complete Birds of Northamerica. P. 316.
- ↑ BirdLife International on the mangrove cuckoo , accessed August 7, 2016
- ↑ a b c d e Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 298.
- ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 302.
- ↑ Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 290.
- ↑ a b c d e Erhitzøe, Mann, Brammer, Fuller: Cuckoos of the World . P. 299.