Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo

© Dubi Shapiro

© Nathan Hentze

Birdfinding.info ⇒  Present at most of the frequently visited forest sites on Jamaica.  Among these, the most reliable seem to be Marshall’s Pen, Stewart Town, and Green Castle Estate in Robin’s Bay.  Other sites where it is often seen include Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, Windsor, Barbecue Bottom / Burnt Hill Road, Hardwar Gap, San San, and Ecclesdown Road.

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo

Coccyzus pluvialis

Family: Cuculidae

Endemic to Jamaica, where it is a fairly common resident of humid montane and foothill forests and open woodlands throughout the island.

Identification

Spectacular and unmistakable: a very large cuckoo with an enormous, broad tail, heavy, curved bill, creamy-white throat, ashy chest, and deep chestnut lower breast and belly.

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Glenn Bartley

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; February 26, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Woodside Track, Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; December 26, 2017.)  © Catherine McFadden

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; April 13, 2014.)  © Gil Ewing

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, displaying.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Jamaica; April 30, 2013.)  © William Price

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, displaying.  (Blue Mountains, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Dubi Shapiro

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Marshall’s Pen, Jamaica; March 19, 2009.)  © Ron Knight

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, displaying.  (Jamaica; February 28, 2018.)  © Glenn Bartley

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; March 6, 2018.)  © Tom Johnson

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Jamaica; April 16, 2007.)  © Dominic Sherony

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Jamaica; April 30, 2013.)  © William Price

Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo.  (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; March 3, 2017.)  © Kyle Elliott

Voice.  Song is a loud, accelerating series of deep, guttural croaks.  Some of its other calls sound entirely non-avian, as in this duet with one individual sounding like a growling stomach and the other like a small elephant trumpeting:

Cf. Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo.  At a glimpse, Chestnut-bellied can be confused with Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, as both are large cuckoos with grayish-brown backs, long tails, and black-and-white undertail patterns.  The lizard-cuckoo differs in several ways: long, thin bill, bright red orbital skin, warm brown cap, grayish throat, cinnamon breast and belly, coppery patch in the primaries, and predominantly white undertail.

Notes

Monotypic species.  This species and the Bay-breasted Cuckoo of Hispaniola were formerly recognized as comprising a separate genus, Hyetornis.

References

eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed December 27, 2018.)

Erritzøe, J., C.F. Mann, F.P. Brammer, and R.A. Fuller. 2012. Cuckoos of the World. Christopher Helm, London.

Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

Payne, R. 2017. Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo (Coccyzus pluvialis). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/54901. (Accessed November 24, 2017.)

Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.