Harbingers of Monsoon – Pied Cuckoo

As the countdown to monsoon arrival starts, so starts the scouting for Pied Crested Cuckoo by birders. I was also looking for this bird for the last two weeks, and today I was lucky to spot at least two of them and click some shots.

 A bird with black and white plumage ( pied ) with a fancy crest on the head, whose arrival is considered lucky. Known as Jacobin cuckoo or Pied crested Cuckoo, the arrival of this bird has traditionally been seen as pronouncing the onset of the monsoon. In India, this bird is a summer breeding visitor to northern India. It has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon rains due to the timing of its arrival. It has been associated with a bird in Indian mythology and poetry, known as the chataka (Sanskrit: चातक) represented as a bird with a beak on its head that waits for rains to quench its thirst.

The species is a nest or brood parasite and in India the host is mainly a species of babblers. The colour of the eggs matches those of the host. Eggs are laid hurriedly in the morning into the nest of the host, often dropped from above while the bird perches on the rim of the nest and over the host eggs often resulting in the cracking of one or more host eggs. I had clicked this photo of Juvenile Cuckoo, when it was playing with Jungle Babblers and I was not aware of the above mentioned fact.

These cuckoos feed on insects including hairy caterpillars that are picked up from near or on the ground. Caterpillars are pressed from end to end to remove the guts before they are swallowed. They sometimes feed on fruits.