Mainly Southeast Asian range of Green-billed Malkoha Phaenicophaeus tristis extends to southernmost provinces of China (Hainan, Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong, southern Guangxi, southern Yunnan). HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Dense primary and secondary forests. Non-parasitic. ID Large, long-tailed cuckoo. Grey body; head, throat, and upper breast paler, with faint black streaks mostly on crown and throat, darkest on belly; wings and tail dark glossy green, with broad white tips to tail feathers. Red facial skin forms mask surrounding eye. Mask bordered by thin black and white lines, and black lores. Juvenile browner. BARE PARTS Bill greenish-yellow, darker in juvenile. Feet grey. VOICE Chuckles, harsh croaking, and other, softer sounds. — Craig Brelsford
THE CUCKOOS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers every species in the order Cuculiformes in China. Click any link below:
Greater Coucal Centropus sinensis
Lesser Coucal C. bengalensis
Green-billed Malkoha Phaenicophaeus tristis
Chestnut-winged Cuckoo Clamator coromandus
Jacobin Cuckoo C. jacobinus
Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus
Asian Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx maculatus
Violet Cuckoo C. xanthorhynchus
Banded Bay Cuckoo Cacomantis sonneratii
Plaintive Cuckoo C. merulinus
Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris
Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides
Common Hawk-Cuckoo H. varius
Rufous Hawk-Cuckoo H. hyperythrus
Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo H. nisicolor
Lesser Cuckoo Cuculus poliocephalus
Indian Cuckoo C. micropterus
Himalayan Cuckoo C. saturatus
Oriental Cuckoo C. optatus
Common Cuckoo C. canorus
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
