Crested coua

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Crested coua
Crested coua coua cristata.jpg
At Anjajavy Forest, Madagascar
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Genus: Coua
Species:
C. cristata
Binomial name
Coua cristata
(Linnaeus, 1766)
LocationMadagascar.svg
Synonyms
  • Cuculus cristatusLinnaeus, 1766

The crested coua (Coua cristata) is a common medium-sized bird member of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. [2] It is endemic to Madagascar, [3] mainly found in the coastal regions of the island. [4] The crested coua is a weak flyer, so it will often be observed hopping from branch to branch in high canopies. [5] [6] It is distinguished mainly by its greenish-grey back, its prominent grey head crest, rufous-coloured breast, white abdomen and bright turquoise and blue patches of bare skin around the eyes. [7]  

Contents

Description

Adults

The adult crested coua is a medium-sized bird, averaging between 12 and 17 inches (30 to 44 cm) in length. [8] [9] It has a greenish-gray plumage on the back, a white abdomen, rufous-colored chest and brown eyes. Its long tail is purplish-blue with white tips and its bill and beak are black. Its defining characteristics are its prominent grey head crest and, as goes for all couas, its colourful patches of bare skin around the eyes, which is blue and turquoise in crested couas. In flight, it is recognizable from its short rounded wings and long white-tipped tail.

Furthermore, this bird's third toe is reversible, which helps it have a strong grip when hopping around high branches in the canopy. Although they are common birds in their range, they can be hard to see in the wild since their greenish-gray coloration tends to blend with shadows and acting as camouflage. [10] Males and females are similar physically.

Juveniles

Juveniles are comparable to adult crested couas however, they are paler in colour, have a shorter head crest and do not have the characteristic bright blue and turquoise ring around the eye. [11]

Chicks

Young chicks are altricial, which means they are naked at birth and need full parental attention for their early development. [12] During that time, they have unique red and white "bullseyes" inside their mouth, supposedly used to indicate to their parents where to put the food. This characteristic is thought to be particularly useful at darker hours of the day. [8] [9] They also have a dark skin and a reddish bill at that stage.

Taxonomy

The crested coua is one of nine living bird species in the subfamily Couinae, which only has one genus, the Coua. [13] These birds are part of the order Cuculiformes, which includes Cuckoos, Turacos and Roadrunners. [2] Couas are a monophyletic group of endemic birds of Madagascar. [3]

Three of the coua species are arboreal (Blue Coua (C. caerulea), Crested Coua (C. cristata) and Verreaux's Coua (C. verreauxi)), and six species are ground dwelling (Coquerel's Coua (C. coquereli), Running Coua (C. cursor), Giant Coua (C. gigas), Red-fronted Coua (C. reynaudii), Red-capped Coua (C. ruficeps) and Red-breasted Coua (C. serriana)). [3]

Subspecies

The crested coua has four subspecies: [2]

Distribution and habitat

Crested couas are endemic to Madagascar and are the most widespread of all couas. Although their population numbers are unknown, their range is thought to be 562,000 km2 along the coast of the island. They are found at altitudes as high as 900m above sea level, but are most commonly seen around altitudes of 700m.

Despite being mostly found in littoral and deciduous forests, their habitats also consist open areas like savannas and brushlands. They will occasionally be found in mangroves and palms as well. Additionally, they usually avoid deciduous shrublands, selecting mainly for mosaics of forests and croplands. [3] As arboreal species, they tend to use forest layers above five meters and they nest, on average, around nine meters from the ground. [5]

Threats

Although this species is marked as least concerned due to their stable populations, [14] crested coua's numbers are believed to be constantly declining due to habitat loss, degradation and hunting pressures. [3]

It is mostly hunted by humans for its tasty meat, but its main natural predators are fossas, hawks and eagles. [15]

Behaviour

Despite being capable of flight, crested couas are weak flyers, so they are rather observed restlessly bouncing between branches in the canopy. Keeping balance with their long tail and grasping branches with their reversible toe, they are able to move quickly and be agile. [16] Secretive, they tend to stay in groups of three to five individuals outside of breeding season. They do not tend to flock, although they sometimes join mixed-species flocks. [17]

Vocalization

They are highly vocal birds and have several different calls that we can hear in the wild. [6] The most commons are "laser gun calls", which are a series of piercing sounds, and doubled, wooden "touk-touk" sounds. [18] It is also possible to hear calls such as "koa-koa-koa" and "guay-guay-guay-guay-gwuck". [9] [19] Its call can sometimes serve as an indicator of predator presence in the environment. [15]

Couas, like many birds, tend to be more vocal around sunset, often creating mixed chorus with other species. [20] They also raise their head crest while calling. [7]

Reproduction

Breeding crested couas are usually found in monogamous pairs. [12] Unlike some other species of cuckoos, these birds do not take part in brood parasitism, but rather, both male and female co-parent the chicks. [8] The pair builds their nest themselves out of twigs and hide it in trees or bushes to avoid detection by predators. Two single white eggs are laid and incubated by both parents. [21] The chicks are born altricial with both parents equally helping in raising the young until they are about two weeks old, when they leave the nest. Couas have low fecundity, but they have a high adult longevity (up to 15 years in captivity), which is why they can afford to have a smaller brood size. Additionally, because of their short young-rearing period, it is possible for them to have several clutches in one breeding season, which is from September to March. [19]

Diet

They have an omnivorous diet consisting of arthropods, fruits, berries, snails, chameleons, leaves, seeds and others. They essentially feed on everything size appropriate that they find in their environment. [19] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuckoo</span> Family of birds

Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes. The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals, and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae, respectively. The cuckoo order Cuculiformes is one of three that make up the Otidimorphae, the other two being the turacos and the bustards. The family Cuculidae contains 150 species, which are divided into 33 genera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steller's jay</span> Species of bird found in western North America

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crested lark</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobin cuckoo</span> Species of bird

The Jacobin cuckoo, also pied cuckoo or pied crested cuckoo, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds that is found in Africa and Asia. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon rains due to the timing of its arrival. It has been associated with a bird in Indian mythology and poetry, known as the chātaka represented as a bird with a beak on its head that waits for rains to quench its thirst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-billed babbler</span> Species of brown-grey bird from southern India and Sri Lanka

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<i>Coua</i> Genus of birds

Couas are large, mostly terrestrial birds of the cuckoo family, endemic to the island of Madagascar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-legged seriema</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madagascar ibis</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant coua</span> Species of bird

The giant coua is a bird species from the coua genus in the cuckoo family that is endemic to the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar. It is suggested that couas probably originated from a particular Asian ground-cuckoo. The genus coua contains 10 species, more than any other genus in Madagascar. Although the bird is listed under least concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it only persists in the biological hot spot of Madagascar, warranting its recognition as a species of conservation concern at the global scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue coua</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coquerel's coua</span> Species of bird

Coquerel's coua is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It was named in 1867 by the French naturalist Alfred Grandidier in honor of the French navy surgeon and naturalist Charles Coquerel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-capped coua</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verreaux's coua</span> Species of bird

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C. cristata may refer to:

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2016). "Coua cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22725453A94892874. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22725453A94892874.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "ITIS - Report: Coua cristata". itis.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Chiatante, Gianpasquale (2021). "Spatial distribution of an assemblage of an endemic genus of birds: an example from Madagascar". African Journal of Ecology. 60: 13–26. doi: 10.1111/aje.12917 . ISSN   1365-2028. S2CID   239682915.
  4. ↑ "Coua cristata (Crested Coua) - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  5. 1 2 URANO, EIICHIRO; YAMAGISHI, SATOSHI; ANDRIANARIMISA, ARISTIDE; ANDRIATSARAFARA, SOLOFO (2008-04-03). "Different habitat use among three sympatric species of couas Coua cristata, C. coquereli and C. ruficeps in western Madagascar". Ibis. 136 (4): 485–487. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1994.tb01125.x. ISSN   0019-1019.
  6. 1 2 "Crested Coua - eBird". ebird.org. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  7. 1 2 3 Kirwan, Guy M.; Payne, Robert B.; del Hoyo, Josep; Collar, Nigel (2020-03-26). Billerman, Shawn M; Keeney, Brooke K; Schulenberg, Thomas S (eds.). "Crested Coua (Coua cristata)". Birds of the World. doi:10.2173/bow.crecou1.01.1. S2CID   241512973.
  8. 1 2 3 "Crested Couas | Beauty of Birds". beautyofbirds.com. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  9. 1 2 3 "Crested Coua". Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  10. ↑ Nathan (2013-02-11). "The Bird with a Bullseye - Crested Coua". Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  11. ↑ Payne, Robert B. (2005-07-14). The Cuckoos. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-151355-8.
  12. 1 2 CHOUTEAU, Philippe (2003). "Breeding and territoriality of three ground coua species (Aves, genus Coua, Cuculidae) in the dry forest of western Madagascar". hdl.handle.net (in French). École Normale Supérieure Laboratoire d'Écologie. hdl:2042/55549 . Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  13. ↑ Urano, Eiichiro; Yamagishi, Satoshi; Andrianarimisa, Aristide; Andriatsarafara, Solofo (1994). "Different habitat use among three sympatric species of couas Coua cristata, C. coquereli and C. ruficeps in western Madagascar". Ibis. 136 (4): 485–487. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1994.tb01125.x. ISSN   1474-919X.
  14. ↑ International), BirdLife International (BirdLife (2016-10-01). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Coua cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
  15. 1 2 Seiler, Melanie; Schwitzer, Christoph; Holderied, Marc (2013-10-01). "Anti-predator behaviour of Sahamalaza sportive lemurs, Lepilemur sahamalazensis, at diurnal sleeping sites". Contributions to Zoology. 82 (3): 131–S1. doi: 10.1163/18759866-08203003 . ISSN   1875-9866.
  16. ↑ "WCS Wild View: No Trick, Crested Coua Is A Beautiful Treat". blog.wcs.org. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  17. ↑ "Crested Coua | North Carolina Zoo". nczoo.org. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  18. ↑ Behrens, Ken; Barnes, Keith (2016-10-25). CUCKOOS. Princeton University Press. doi:10.1515/9781400880676-035. ISBN   978-1-4008-8067-6.
  19. 1 2 3 "The Crested Coua". MADAMAGAZINE. 2019-12-28. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  20. ↑ "Animals of Madagascar | Charles Paddock Zoo | Your Central Coast Zoo". charlespaddockzoo.org. Retrieved 2021-11-11.
  21. ↑ "Rearing Couas in Weltvogelpark Walsrode | Beauty of Birds". beautyofbirds.com. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
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