Nombre en español: Cuco-ardilla Chico

Nombre en ingles: Little Cuckoo

Nombre científico: Coccycua minuta

Familia: Cuculidae

Foto: Brayan Coral

Canto: Andrew Spencer

El cuco ardilla menor, tingazú chico o piscuita enana (Coccycua minuta) es una especie de avecuculiforme de la familia Cuculidae, que se encuentra en Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guayana francesa, Guyana, Panamá, Perú, Surinam, Trinidad y Tobago y Venezuela. Anteriormente se clasificaba en el género Piaya pero ha sido reagrupado en el nuevo género Coccycua, junto con dos especies que estaban agrupadas en Coccyzus y en Micrococcyx.

Descripción

El cuco ardilla menor mide en promedio 27 cm de longitud y pesa 40 g. El plumaje del adulto es principalmente de color castaño, con la parte inferior del vientre gris, la cola marrón y puntas blancas en las plumas de la cola. El pico es corto, amarillo y curvos y el iris es rojo. Inmaduro es de color marrón oscuro con pico negro y sin las puntas blancas en la cola. Es más pequeño y la garganta es más oscura que la del cuco ardilla.

Sus llamados semejan chek y kak.

Hábitat

Vive en manglares, matorrales y en el bosque cerca del agua, por debajo de los 1900 m de altitud.

Alimentación

se alimenta en las ramas bajas de insectos y otros artrópodos.

Reproducción

Construye un nido en forma de taza profunda, en un árbol o un bambú. La hembra pone dos huevos blancos y los incuba ella misma.

Little cuckoo

The little cuckoo (Coccycua minuta) is a species of bird in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae) from South America and Panama. It was formerly placed in the genus Piaya, but was moved to the reinstated genus Coccycua following the discovery that its closest living relatives are a couple species traditionally placed in Coccyzus or Micrococcyx, rather than the other members of Piaya.

Description

This species is about 27 centimetres (11 in) long and weighs 40 grams (1.4 oz). The adult is mainly chestnut brown, with a greyish lower belly, browner tail and white tips to the tail feathers. The bill is yellow, short, and decurved; the iris of the eyes is red. Immature birds are dark brown with a black bill and no white tail tips. It is smaller and the throat is darker than in the squirrel cuckoo.

The little cuckoo makes harsh chek and kak calls.

Range, habitat and behavior

This small cuckoo occurs from Panama and Trinidad south through Colombia to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil; in Ecuador, it has been recorded as high up as 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) ASL. The little cuckoo is found in mangrove swamps, and scrubby woodland near water. It is generally believed to be an all-year resident, but its irregular occurrence in some areas has led to speculations that it undertakes seasonal short-distance migrations. Fairly widely distributed and not particularly rare, it is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.

This is a shy species which tends to keep to cover as it forages in low branches for insects and other arthropods. The female lays two white eggs in a deep cup nest in a tree or bamboo. Like most American cuckoos, it incubates the eggs itself.