Red-breasted Coua Coua serriana Scientific name definitions

42 cm; 298 g. Adult dark green-brown above , long blue-black tail , blackish brown below , chest  dark rufous; bare skin around eye blue, iris  brown, bill black. Juvenile with wing-coverts edged rufous, throat brown-olive (not black), belly olive, tail dull black without blue gloss, skin around eye feathered.

E & NE Madagascar from N Onive R to Andapa Basin, E to Masoala Peninsula and then W through Tsaratanana massif to Sambirano and Daraina regions (2 Safford, R.J. and Hawkins, A.F.A. eds. (2013). The Birds of Africa. Vol. 8: The Malagasy Region. Christopher Helm, London. Close ).

Undisturbed rain forest . Tends to occur in more open areas and at lower levels than C. reynaudii. Sea-level to 1000 m.

Berries and fruits; also seeds and insects. Mainly terrestrial  , foraging by walking on ground, or on horizontal branch; walks and runs, seldom flies; feeds beneath flocks of other frugivorous birds, on fruits fallen from trees.

Noisy; repeated loud “koo ha” , a melodic “tee oooo”, also grunts.

Nest  a bowl of intertwined branches, 2–4 m above ground in a fern or pandanus. Eggs 2, white.