Bird of the day
Banded ground cuckoo
Neomorphus radiolosus
The banded ground cuckoo (Neomorphus radiolosus) is an endangered species of cuckoo in the tribe Neomorphini of subfamily Crotophaginae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
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 with the same scaly appearance as the lower back; the coverts are plain black. Juveniles' scaling is mostly ochraceous with some white on the breast and their crest is blackish without blue.
Aliases
Neomorphus radiolosus, Banded ground-cuckoo