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Birds of Zihuatanejo

CLASS AVES

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Chordates (Phylum Chordata)

-Vertebrates (Subphylum Vertebrata)

-Birds (Class Aves)

-Cuckoos (Order Cuculiformes)

-Cuckoos (Family Cuculidae)

-Genus Morococcyx

-Lesser Ground-Cuckoo (Morococcyx erythropygus)


The lesser ground cuckoo is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. Furtive and rarely seen, but with a loud and distinctive song. It inhabits brushy dry woodland in tropical lowlands, where most of the time it walks stealthily on the ground, often freezing in place when alarmed. Boldly colored turquoise and yellow skin around the eye and the warm buffy or cinnamon-colored underparts make this bird easy to identify.

Lesser Ground-Cuckoo

Morococcyx erythropygus

Diet

  • Primarily large insects, including grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, caterpillars, termites, ants, and cicadas.

  • Also feeds on spiders, centipedes, small lizards, frogs, and occasionally small snakes.

  • Forages mostly on the ground, running rapidly through leaf litter and low vegetation in search of prey.

Range

  • Found from western Mexico south through Central America to Costa Rica.

  • In Mexico, it occurs along the Pacific slope from southern Sonora through Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and into Chiapas.

  • Regularly found in the Zihuatanejo region, where it is a year-round resident.

  • Inhabits tropical dry forests, thorn scrub, woodland edges, dense brush, second-growth, and scrubby ravines, generally from sea level to about 1,500 m.

Male / Female

  • Male: Brownish upperparts with a bright rufous rump, long graduated tail with white-tipped feathers, buff underparts, and a bare blue skin patch around the eye. Slightly larger than the female.

  • Female: Nearly identical in plumage but generally slightly smaller and duller.

  • Sexes cannot be reliably distinguished in the field except by subtle size differences or breeding behaviour.

Size

  • Length: 26–30 cm (10.2–11.8 in)

  • Wingspan: 34–38 cm (13.4–15.0 in)

  • Weight: 55–80 g

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