Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris Scientific name definitions

24–25 cm; 26–43·6 g. Adult  glossy blue-black  with greener wing-coverts  , inner secondaries and tertials  , and brownish tinge to breast, belly and vent, tail  square or slightly forked, white leggings, white bands on undertail-coverts  , white bar on underwing  (primaries); skin around eye blackish or dark bluish grey, iris brown to dark grey, bill black with pale yellow mouth lining, and legs and feet dark grey. Female duller than male, with yellow eyes. Juvenile  dull blackish brown, with white spots  on head, wings and breast, white tips to uppertail-coverts, rounded, white-tipped rectrices and often show white spots on shafts and broader white bars. Race barussarum is overall smaller and shorter- and more square-tailed, with less brownish underparts.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Forests (including semi-evergreen, swamp and riparian forests in Assam, lowland dipterocarp and peat-swamp forests on Borneo, and temperate forests in Bhutan) and scrub, forest edge and clearings, pines, disturbed forest, small forest patches, bamboo thickets, plantations (cashew-nut, jackfruit, coconut, Albizia and pepper), and occasionally gardens, mangroves. Mainly lowlands, but in Myanmar and Thailand to 1200 m, on Borneo to 1300 m, in Peninsular Malaysia to 800 m, at 1000–2600 m in Bhutan, and to 2100 m in Yunnan (SW China).

Resident over most of range except in the extreme N of range, where it is a summer migrant to NE India and E Bangladesh, and status in Bhutan also uncertain due to confusion with formerly conspecific with S. dicruroides, but either (or perhaps even both) species are presumably virtually exclusively summer visitors (arriving from mid Mar but mainly from mid Apr), with just winter record, in late Jan; in Manipur, NE India, apparently both resident and migratory. Present Mar–Sept in N Thailand. Nocturnal migration through Peninsular Malaysia in Aug–Sept, and has also been recorded as a migrant through E Tonkin, Vietnam. Accidental South Korea (May) and Japan (May).

Insects, caterpillars  (hairy and hairless: Pieridae, Lasiocampidae, Limadodidae), other soft insects, beetles, swarming termits, spiders; sometimes fruit, especially figs and banyans. Forages in foliage canopy, also perches on charred stumps and saplings in recently burned clearings, but also performs aerial sallies for swarming termites, and joins mixed-species flocks.

Calls regularly from exposed dead branches. Territorial call comprises a fast, ascending “pi-pi-pi” or “pee-pee-pee” repeated 5–7 times, also a shrill “phew-phew-phewphewphewphewphew-phew-phew”, which first rises and then falls, as well as 5–6 mellow whistles rising up scale, but not piping like previously conspecific S. dicruroides and much higher-pitched, shriller and faster than latter; on Malay Peninsula, where vocalizes mainly in Jan–Aug, occasionally from Nov, call is “kree-kree-kree...”, initially ascending but subsequently on last 2–3 notes, while on Palawan gives an ascending (5–8-note) “wu-wu-wu-waa-waa-wee”, lasting 1·6 seconds and continuing every 4–5 seconds; on Bali, typical call starts with two or three consecutive series of three to four notes up the scale, developing into a string of five-note calls, oftenwith a sixth note added.

Season mid Apr–Jul (peaking May–Jun) in Assam (NE India), Apr and Jun in Bangladesh, Apr in Myanmar, May–Jul in Thai-Malay Peninsula, Apr–May on Borneo, and perhaps almost year-round on Java. Brood-parasitic, with hosts mainly babblers: in Malaysia, Olive-winged Bulbul (Pycnonotus plumosus), Striped Tit-babbler (Macronous gularis), Rufous-fronted (Cyanoderma rufifrons), Sooty-capped (Malacopteron affine), Chestnut-winged (Cyanoderma erythropterum) and perhaps Horsfield’s Babbler (Malacocincla sepiarium); on Java, M. sepiarium, Grey-cheeked Tit-babbler (Mixornis flavicollis), Javan Fulvetta (Alcippe pyrrhoptera) and Crescent-chested Babbler (Cyanoderma melanothorax); on Borneo and Sumatra, Chestnut-winged Babbler (C. erythropterum), plus Bold-striped Tit-babbler (Mixornis bornensis) on the first-named. Presumed host in Bhutan is Nepal Fulvetta (Alcippe nipalensis) and and in China, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta (Alcippe morrisonia) and reportedly both Black (Dicrurus macrocercus) and Hair-crested Drongos (D. hottentottus). Other species have been claimed and Macronous gularis mob this cuckoo, apparently recognizing it as their brood parasite, but no real evidence that drongos (Dicrurus) are used as hosts, even though Hair-crested Drongo (D. hottentottus) seen to call and chase a cuckoo (drongos are aggressive, and chase many other species). Eggs white with fine purple splotches on Borneo; on Java, three colour types (reflecting different hosts), namely pale salmon-pink with brownish, purplish or bluish grey markings (Malacocincla sepiarium), white with brown markings (Mixornis flavicollis), or pure white (Stachyris melanothorax); 18·6–23 × 14·4–16·2 mm. Incubation period unknown. Nestling has mouth-lining bright red, feet vinaceous; evicts host’s eggs and chicks.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Like many other forest birds, this species is subject to the effects of widespread habitat destruction throughout its range, but considered common in Bangladesh, over Laos, Borneo and still fairly common across lowland forest on Palawan, in Philippines. Only density estimate available is from Bhutan, where mean density was 1·9 territories at 1600–1900 m, but this might apply to S. dicruroides. In Myanmar, sparingly distributed throughout, while generally uncommon in Thailand and Greater Sundas. In Malaysia, fairly common at Taman Negara; in Singapore it occurs as a rare resident and commoner migrant in secondary forest, particularly Catchment Forest and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Status on Bali unclear, rediscovered in late 1980s after almost 100 years without records, but still unclear whether it is a permanent resident and breeds on the island.