Jump to content

Great lizard cuckoo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Tom.Reding (talk | contribs) at 20:03, 8 November 2016 (Fix Category:CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter: vauthors/veditors or enumerate multiple authors/editors/assessors; WP:GenFixes on, enum'd 1 author/editor WL, using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Great lizard cuckoo
S. m. santamariae
Cayo Coco, Cuba
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Cuculiformes
Family:
Cuculidae
Genus:
Coccyzus
Species:
C. merlini
Binomial name
Coccyzus merlini
D'Orbigny, 1839
Synonyms

Saurothera merlini

The great lizard cuckoo (Coccyzus merlini) is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family. The species is also known as the Cuban lizard cuckoo. It is found in The Bahamas (on Andros, Eleuthera and New Providence) and Cuba.

Description

The great lizard cuckoo is the largest of the lizard-cuckoos of the Caribbean and the largest species of Coccyzus cuckoo. It is 54 cm (21 in) in length and weighs around 155 g (5.5 oz). The plumage is similar to that of the other lizard-cuckoos: olive-brown backs, wings and crown, white throat and breast and chestnut belly with a deeply barred undertail. The eye has a patch of bare red skin around it, and the bill is long.

  • Back view
    Back view
  • S. m. merlini, Zapata National Park, Cuba
    S. m. merlini, Zapata National Park, Cuba

This species feeds on lizards and insects such as locusts. Unlike some cuckoos, it raises its own young, nesting in a saucer of twigs and laying two to three eggs.

Habitat

Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, lowland and montane tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and heavily degraded former forest.

References

  1. ^ Template:IUCN
  • Payne, R.B. (1997). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Family Cuculidae (Cuckoos). Vol. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-22-9. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); |work= ignored (help)
  • Raffaele, Herbert; Wiley, James; Garrido, Orlando; Keith, Allan; Raffaele, Janis (2003). Birds of the West Indies. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0713654196.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coccyzus merlini.
Wikispecies has information related to Coccyzus merlini.


Stub icon

This Cuculiformes-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_lizard_cuckoo&oldid=748547155"