Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike Coracina striata Scientific name definitions

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Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

24–32 cm; 98·2–128 g. Male nominate race is entirely dark plumbeous grey except for black lores and eyering, and largely black wings and tail; underparts, especially from belly to undertail-coverts, slightly paler than upperparts; iris dark brownish red to straw-yellow; bill and legs black. Female is dark ashy grey above, lower back to uppertail-coverts barred black and white, lores and side of face dusky; lesser and median upperwing-coverts slightly darker than back, greater coverts ashy grey, remiges black, edged ashy grey, tertials almost entirely ashy grey, tail black; chin to breast ashy grey, rest of underparts, including axillaries and underwing-coverts, barred black and white, thighs dark ashy grey. Juvenile is finely barred black, grey and buff, remiges and rectrices strongly edged buff-white, lower belly to undertail-coverts white, eye brownish white; immature like adult female, but barring more distinct and extending to breast, young male more leaden grey on upperparts and upper breast. Races differ mainly in size, colour, and/or extent of barring on rump and underparts: sumatrensis male has some bars on rump and uppertail-coverts, indistinct bars on vent, whitish eye; simalurensis, babiensis and enganensis are unbarred in both sexes; kannegieteri, bungurensis and difficilis have unbarred males and barred females; vordermani male has barred undertail-coverts, female has unbarred whitish undertail-coverts; mindorensis is uniformly grey, female with trace of barring on underwing-coverts; guillemardi is similar to previous, but larger; kochii is smaller than previous, both sexes with less heavy barring on rump and abdomen and less black on lores; boholensis differs from last in having more and heavier barring on abdomen and undertail-coverts.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

26–31 cm. Adult male has all-grey upperparts with black lores and fore ear-coverts, and darker flight-feathers; grey throat and upper breast, concolorous with head and back, with rest of underparts barred black and white, as well as over rump and uppertail-coverts; bill and legs black, with red eye. Adult female is similar, but lacks black on face and has very tightly barred black barring on white throat and breast, with rest of underparts pattern much like that of male. Immature is reported to be finely barred black, grey and buff, with obviously well-fringed wing- and tail-feathers in buff-white. Differences from C. dobsoni and C. striata are described above, under Taxonomy.

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Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

C Philippines (Ticao, Masbate, Panay, Guimaras, Negros).

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Forest, freshwater swamp-forest, second growth and scrub, including regenerating forests; also back-mangrove forest; occasionally in old rubber and coconut plantations, orchards. Occupies mature forest regenerating after disturbance, including from logging. Lowlands to 900 m; to 2000 m in Philippines.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Eats adult and larval insects, including mantids (Mantidae), dragonflies (Odonata), beetles (Coleoptera) and lepidopterans (including hairy caterpillars); also takes large fruit of the fig Ficus pisocarpa. Large hairy caterpillars rubbed against a perch before being eaten; large figs held under a foot and picked apart. Forages singly, in pairs or in small groups (once a flock of 40 in Peninsular Malaysia), or within mixed-species flocks, especially with other cuckoo-shrikes, from canopy to middle stratum and at edges.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Very few data, but diet and feeding behaviour probably very similar to those of C. striata and C. dobsoni. Joins mixed-species flocks as do both of the last-named species, including those with other cuckoo-shrikes.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Noisy; has loud, harsh “klee kleep” of 2–4 notes, usually given in flight (Philippines); clear whinnying “kliu-kliu-kliu” (audible at some distance) or shrill “kriiu-kriiu” or “keeuk-keeuk”, and sharp, rising “see-up” (sumatrensis).

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Primary vocalization described as two (sometimes four) loud, harsh “kle kleep” notes, with the first note higher than the second, each strophe lasting c. 1 second, and repeated irregularly every few seconds (usually 3–5 seconds), being most frequently heard in flight.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Recorded in Apr–May, with dependent fledglings late Aug, in Malaysia; Feb on Sumatra; Apr–May in Philippines; in breeding condition in Jul in Sabah (Borneo). Nest a shallow cup of mosses or mud, small leaves, lichens and rootlets, placed up to 21 m above ground on forked branch of tree. Eggs two, pale grey with lavender and reddish-brown markings; large chicks fed only by female. No other information.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Bar-bellied)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common to uncommon or rare. Numbers probably reduced throughout its range by destruction of lowland forest. Apparently common in Philippines; race cebuensis believed extinct on Cebu since at least 1959, as a result of deforestation, although there was an unconfirmed sighting in 2000. Not uncommon on Kangean Is (vordermani). Race sumatrensis rare to locally fairly common in S Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia, where formerly locally commoner near coasts; no longer occurs in Singapore following destruction of mangrove-forest habitat; probably scarce on Sumatra. This race regarded as “Vulnerable” as a result of habitat destruction; although able to breed in secondary vegetation and isolated trees, it never occurs far from tall forest, with no confirmed occurrence significantly above the steepland boundary; occurs in Taman Negara National Park, in Peninsular Malaysia. Known from several protected areas on Borneo, where the species is considered uncommon.

Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike (Visayan)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: confined to the Negros and Panay EBA (which also includes the other islands within this species’ range). Very few data concerning its relative abundance, but seems to be comparatively uncommon on Negros. Population believed to be decreasing in response to habitat loss, although no estimate of total numbers. Overall range estimated at just 65,200 km².