Violet cuckoo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Violet cuckoo |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Violet Cuckoo (Male) | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae |
| Genus: | Chrysococcyx |
| Species: |
C. xanthorhynchus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus (Horsfield, 1821)
|
|
| Script error: The function "autoWithCaption" does not exist. | |
Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
The violet cuckoo (Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus) is a beautiful bird from the cuckoo family. It's known for its bright, shiny feathers, especially the males who are a stunning violet color. These birds live in warm, tropical parts of Asia. Like many cuckoos, they have a special way of raising their young: they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds!
Contents
What Does the Violet Cuckoo Look Like?
Male Violet Cuckoos
Male violet cuckoos are very striking. They have shiny, deep violet feathers on their heads and the top part of their bodies. Their tails are dark, almost black, with a white tip. The feathers on the outside of their tails have cool stripes.
The most amazing part is their chin and upper chest, which are a bright, shimmering violet. Their bellies are white with wide stripes that can be black, green, or violet. Grown-up males also have a red ring around their eyes.
Female Violet Cuckoos
Female violet cuckoos look a bit different. Their upper parts are a mix of greenish-bronze colors. They have a dark brown crown on their heads. You might see white marks around their eyes and sometimes on their foreheads.
Their central tail feathers are greenish. The outer tail feathers are a reddish-brown color, called rufous, with greenish stripes. The very outer tail feathers have black and white stripes. Their chests are whitish with bronze-green stripes and some reddish-brown marks.
Young Violet Cuckoos
Young violet cuckoos, called juveniles, have striped feathers. Their upper bodies are a mix of reddish-brown and greenish-bronze. They have a bright reddish-brown crown. Their wings are a mix of reddish-brown and mottled green or brown.
Their tails are striped brown and reddish-brown. The underside of their bodies is white with brown stripes.
Where Do Violet Cuckoos Live?
Home and Travel
The violet cuckoo is found in many places. You can see them from north-eastern India all the way to Southeast Asia. They also live on the Greater Sundas islands, Palawan, and the Philippines.
Some groups of these cuckoos stay in one place all year, especially in the southern areas. Other groups, like those in Assam and Bangladesh, travel to different places depending on the season. This means they are migratory.
Their Favorite Places to Live
Violet cuckoos like warm, wet places. Their natural homes include tropical lowland forests. They also enjoy tropical mangrove forests, which are forests that grow in salty water near coasts.
You might also spot them in gardens, fruit farms, and even rubber plantations. They usually live in low areas, mostly below 700 meters high, but sometimes up to 1500 meters.
How Many Violet Cuckoos Are There?
Even though they are spread out over a large area, violet cuckoos are not very common. However, because they live in so many different places, experts don't think they are in danger of disappearing. But some people worry that they might be threatened in certain areas if their homes are destroyed.
How Violet Cuckoos Behave
What They Eat
Violet cuckoos mostly eat insects. But they will also eat fruit sometimes. They have been seen shaking hairy caterpillars. This helps them get rid of the caterpillar's stomach contents before eating them.
They find their food by slowly moving up and down tree branches. They can also catch insects while flying in the air.
Reproduction and Raising Young
Cuckoos are known for being brood parasites. This means they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. They let these other birds, called host species, raise their chicks for them.
During the time when they are looking for mates, male cuckoos are very active and sing loudly. This helps them attract females. After mating, the female cuckoos become very quiet and secretive. They carefully search for the right nests to lay their eggs in.
Some birds that have been hosts for the violet cuckoo include sunbirds and spiderhunters. Spiderhunters are small birds that are related to sunbirds. Host birds often see adult cuckoos as a threat and try to chase them away. But, they usually don't realize that the cuckoo eggs in their nest are not their own.
Cuckoo chicks are usually bigger than the host chicks. For many cuckoo species, the cuckoo chick will push the host chicks out of the nest. This behavior hasn't been seen yet for the violet cuckoo, but it's a common trait among cuckoos.
 | William M. Jackson |
 | Juan E. Gilbert |
 | Neil deGrasse Tyson |
