About Morococcyx erythropygus (Lesson, 1842)
The lesser ground cuckoo (scientific name Morococcyx erythropygus (Lesson, 1842)) measures 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11 in) in length. Males weigh approximately 58 to 66 g (2.0 to 2.3 oz), and females weigh approximately 56 to 76 g (2.0 to 2.7 oz). Females are somewhat paler than males, but do not differ from them in any other characteristic. This species has a slightly decurved bill, with a blackish brown maxilla and an orange mandible. Its face has an intricate pattern: a bright yellow ring around the eye, bare blue skin behind the eye ring, thin black lines surrounding this eye area, a short indistinct whitish stripe above the eye, and cinnamon ocracous cheeks. Adult individuals of the nominate subspecies have a grayish brown crown, an olive brown nape and back, a sooty blackish lower back and rump, and olive brown uppertail coverts. Their tail is mostly olive brown, with a purplish bronze gloss and buff to whitish tips on the upper surface. The underside of the tail is light grayish brown, with dull blackish bands near the end of the outer feathers. Their underparts, from chin to vent, are cinnamon ochraceous. Immature birds are similar to adults but have duller plumage, and lack the pale tips and blackish bands on the tail. Adult individuals of the subspecies M. e. mexicanus are larger and paler than the nominate subspecies. They have somewhat grayer upperparts, underparts that tend toward ochraceous buff or pale buff, and a darker underside to the tail. The nominate subspecies of the lesser ground cuckoo is distributed from southern Mexico south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua into Costa Rica. M. e. mexicanus occurs on the Pacific slope of western Mexico, between Sinaloa and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The species inhabits semiarid to arid landscapes, including woodland interiors, woodland edges, thorn forest, secondary forest, and savanna. Populations in southwestern Mexico are almost exclusively found in thorn forest.
