Indian Cuckoo

The Indian cuckoo, or short-winged cuckoo, is a solitary, shy cuckoo of forest and open woodland, recorded up to 3,600 m. Both sexes have grey upperparts and a broadly black-barred underside, and the tail has a broad dark band near the tip and a white end. Its range runs from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia and north to China and Russia (Wikipedia, general species account).

The call is a loud four-note phrase, transcribed as orange-pekoe or one more bottle. It eats hairy caterpillars and other insects and sometimes fruit, usually in the upper canopy, occasionally making aerial sallies for flying termites. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).