Nombre en español: Cuco-ardilla Común

Nombre cientifico: Piaya cayana

Nombre en ingles: Squirrel Cuckoo

Familia: Momotidae

Foto:  Rodrigo Gaviria

Canto: Andrew Spencer

El cuco ardilla común (Piaya cayana) es una especie de ave que se encuentra desde el noroccidente de México hasta el norte de Argentina y Uruguay.

Descripción

Mide entre 43 y 46 cm de longitud y pesa entre 95 y 105 g. El plumaje es de color castaño en el dorso y la cabeza, más pálido en la garganta. El pecho es gris y el vientre negruzco. La parte central de la cola es rojiza y el resto negra con manchas blancas. El pico es amarillo y el iris rojo. Los ejemplares juveniles se distinguen porque el pico es gris, el iris marrón y tienen menos manchas blancas en la cola. La subespecie sudamericana P. c. mehleri presenta generalmente plumas pardas y no negras en la cola. Las subespecies de México y Centroamérica tiene anillo ocular amarillo, el cual es rojo en las subespecies sudamericanas.

Comportamiento

Permanece en la canopia o en los bordes del bosque, hasta los 2.500 m de altitud. Corre por las ramas y generalmente vuela a cortas distancias. Su llamado es un explosivo kip! y kip! weeuu y silba un wheep wheep wheep wheep. Su nido es una taza de hojas, construido en una rama de un árbol, oculta en la vegetación densa, a una altura de 1 a 12 m. La hembra pone dos huevos blancos.

Alimentación

Se alimenta de insectos grandes, como cigarras o chicharras, avispas y orugas (incluidas las que tienen pelos urticantes o espinas) y ocasionalmente arácnidos, lagartijas y algunas frutas, como las de Trophis racemosa (Moraceae). Toma sus presas de las ramas de los árboles y algunas, como las avispas, en vuelo. Se le ve observar detenidamente las columnas de hormigas y picotea la carga que ellas llevan. Durante el verano se le ve en compañía de mamíferos pequeños, como el tití Callithrix jacchus. A veces busca alimento junto con otras especies de aves.

Conservación

Es una especie abundante y parece tolerar la intervención humana, siempre y cuando no se destruya el bosque. La IUCN considera por tanto que hay «preocupación menor» por su conservación.

Nombres de la Ruralidad Colombiana

Squirrel cuckoo

The squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana) is a large and active species of cuckoo found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. Some authorities have split off the western Mexican form as the Mexican squirrel-cuckoo (Piaya mexicana).

This large and extremely long-tailed cuckoo is 40.5–50 cm (15.9–19.7 in) long and weighs 95–120 g (3.4–4.2 oz). The adult has mainly chestnut upperparts and head, becoming paler on the throat. The lower breast is grey and the belly is blackish. The central tail feathers are rufous, but the outer are black with white tips. The bill is yellow and the iris is red. Immature birds have a grey bill and eyering, brown iris, and less white in the tail. It resembles the little cuckoo, but that species is smaller and has a darker throat.

There are a number of subspecies with minor plumage variations. For example, P. c. mehleri, one of the South American subspecies, has mainly brown (not black) outer tail feathers. Additionally, the subspecies from Mexico, Central America, and northern and western South America have a yellow eye-ring, but this is red in the remaining part of South America.

It makes explosive kip! and kip! weeuu calls, and the song is a whistled wheep wheep wheep wheep.

Habitat and behavior

The squirrel cuckoo is found in woodland canopy and edges, second growth, hedges and semi-open habitats from sea level to as high as 2,500 m (8,200 ft), although it is uncommon above 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

This species’ English name derives from its habit of running along branches and leaping from branch to branch like a squirrel. It normally flies only short distances, mainly gliding with an occasional flap.

It feeds on large insects such as cicadas, wasps and caterpillars (including those with stinging hairs or spines), and occasionally spiders and small lizards, rarely taking fruit.Its static prey is typically taken off the foliage with a quick lunge, but wasps may be picked out of the air. Squirrel cuckoos are often observed to forage peacefully alongside small mammals such as common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) during the dry season for cocoa beans. In particular, they can be seen to attend army ant columns together, picking off prey flushed by the ants, and occasionally will join mixed-species feeding flocks.

The nest is a cup of leaves on a twig foundation, hidden in dense vegetation 1–12 m (3.3–39.4 ft) high in a tree. The female lays two white eggs.

The squirrel cuckoo is plentiful in most of its range and appears to be quite tolerant of human disturbance, as long as wooded land remains. Compared to many cuckoos in the world, it is relatively bold and conspicuous, although it most often encountered skulking about within vegetation. Owing to its wide range, it is considered a species of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Wikipedia/eBird/xeno-canto/Fernando Ayerbe