Banded Ground-Cuckoo

About the Banded Ground-Cuckoo

The banded ground cuckoo (Neomorphus radiolosus) is a vulnerable species of cuckoo in the tribe Neomorphini of subfamily Crotophaginae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador. The banded ground cuckoo is monotypic. It shares genus Neomorphus with three or four other species depending on the chosen taxonomic system.

The banded ground cuckoo is about 46 cm (18 in) long, about half of which is its tail, and weighs about 400 g (14 oz). Adults have a heavy decurved bill with a black to dusky maxilla and a grayish mandible tipped with blue-gray. Males and females have the same plumage. Adults have a black forehead and crown and a shaggy, glossy, blue-black, erectile crest. Their face is dark with bare blue skin behind the eye. Their hindneck is glossy blue-black and their upper back black with white edges giving a scaly appearance. Their lower back and rump are rich maroon-chestnut and their uppertail coverts metallic green. Their tail is black with a purple and green gloss on the upper side. Their wings have black outer primaries and purplish-red and black inner primaries and secondaries. Their underparts except the undertail coverts are black... Wikipedia →