Asian Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx maculatus)
Order: CUCULIFORMES
Family: CUCULIDAE Cuckoos
Scientific name: Chrysococcyx maculatus
English name: Asian Emerald Cuckoo
Characteristic: Size 18 cm. This cuckoo shows a marked sexual dimorphism. A male has its head, breast and back dark green glossed with golden-bronze sheen; and its belly strongly barred with white and shining green. A female has a reddish brown head, shining bronzed paler green upperpart, and pale patches are present at its cheeks, chin and neck; while the rest of underpart boldly barred with brown.
Distribution: India, the Andamans, the Nicobars, Southern China, Hainan, Sumatra, Myanmar, Thailand, Indo-China to Malaysia.
Habitat: Dry evergreen forest, dipterocarp forest, secondary growth and scrub forest.
Habit: Normally stays solitarity, but keep in pair in the breeding season. Searching for its favorite preys, insects, in leafy tree canopy. Much more heard than seen. Breeding between April-July; because of its nestparasitic habit, a female will lay its egg in the nest of other birds, especially those of the sunbirds and the spider-hunters.
Status: A less-frequently seen resident and migrant.
