32) JACOBIN CUCKOO (Clamator jacobinus) or PIED CUCKOO

32) JACOBIN CUCKOO (Clamator jacobinus) or Pied Cuckoo 

On 21st June 2016,  I took photographs of Jacobin Cuckoo or Pied Cuckoo at the end of my early morning walk inside Van Vihar National Park at Bhopal.

I saw it perched on a branch inside a shrub just adjacent to the road. It was on the lookout for something, unmindful of onlookers and gave me enough time to take these photographs though many small branches of the shrub were coming in the way of photography.

I informed Dr Sangeeta Ragir of Bhopal Birds about the sighting of this bird later. She said that Pied Cuckoo is a migratory bird. Generally, it is said to migrate from South Africa to India to coincide with the onset of Monsoon in India. In North India, the Pied Cuckoo is generally called as "Chatak" in the local language. 

Her feedback increased my curiosity to find out more about the bird, as I was wondering how it is able to cross the vast Arabian Sea to migrate from South Africa to India, to be in time for the monsoon.


According to the Wikipedia, this bird is partially migratory. It has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon in India due to the timing of its arrival. It has been associated with a bird known as the chatak (Sanskrit: चातक) in Indian mythology and poetry.The subspecies serratus (Sparrman, 1786) is a summer breeding visitor to northern India and is believed to migrate to southern Africa. 


The bird is widespread resident and partial migrant in India.  It is resident in southern India and summer visitor to Northern India according to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp. 


The winter ranges of this bird are not known completely as per Birds of South Asia, the Ripley guide by Pamela C Rasmussen and John C Anderton.

As per Wikipedia the east African population of Pied Cuckoo is migratory and moves over southern Arabia into India during April. It prefers thorny, dry scrub or open woodland habitat. It avoids dense forest areas or extremely dry environments.

Like other Cuckoos this one is also said to lay its eggs in the nest of other birds. 

It seems though this bird is commonly found and noticed in India, its migratory and breeding pattern of this bird are not studied fully.

Reference:-
1)Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp
2)Birds of South Asia, the Ripley guide by Pamela C Rasmussen and John C Anderton
3) Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_cuckoo