About Cacomantis passerinus (Vahl, 1797)
The grey-bellied cuckoo, Cacomantis passerinus, is a small cuckoo species with a total length of about 23 cm. Adult individuals are mostly grey, with a white lower belly, white undertail coverts, and a white patch on the wings. Some females have dark-barred reddish brown upperparts, an unbarred tail, and whitish underparts with strong dark barring. Juveniles resemble female grey-bellied cuckoos, but have duller grey plumage. Grey-bellied cuckoos breed in tropical southern Asia, ranging from India and Sri Lanka east to south China and Indonesia. It has been recorded in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The species is a short-distance migrant: populations living at more northerly latitudes and higher elevations are summer visitors that migrate to warmer areas for winter. Grey-bellied cuckoos prefer to live in light woodland and cultivated areas. As a brood parasite, the grey-bellied cuckoo uses warblers as host species and lays a single egg per brood. It feeds on a wide variety of insects and caterpillars. It is a noisy species, produces a persistent, loud pee-pip-pee-pee call, and holds its tail depressed when calling.
