Square-tailed drongo-cuckoo

The square-tailed drongo-cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) is a species of cuckoo that resembles a black drongo. It is found along the Himalayas extending east into Southeast Asia. The calls are series of piercing sharp whistles rising in pitch but shrill and choppily delivered.^[2] In the past, the species S. lugubris also included the subspecies dicruroides, which is now treated as a separate species, the fork-tailed drongo-cuckoo.

From East Pendam-Budang birding area, Sumin Reserve Forest in Sikkim, India

Square-tailed drongo-cuckoo
Khao Yai National Park - Thailand
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Cuculiformes
Family:	Cuculidae
Genus:	Surniculus
Species:	S. lugubris
Binomial name
Surniculus lugubris (Horsfield, 1821)

Description

The square-tailed drongo-cuckoo can be easily distinguished by its downcurved beak and the white barred vent and outer undertail, and the tail only notched with slightly flared tips. In flight, a white wing-stripe is visible from below. It is a brood parasite on small babblers. It is not known how or whether the drongo-like appearance benefits this species but it is suspected that it aids in brood-parasitism just as hawk-cuckoos appear like hawks.^[3]

The square-tailed drongo-cuckoo was formerly considered conspecific with the fork-tailed drongo-cuckoo (together known as the Asian drongo-cuckoo), but vocal and morphological differences suggested that the species should be split.^[2][4]