Shri Jasnath Asan, Rajasthan, India
Photo © Shri Jasnath Asan, 2016
12/28/2016
I was out for a short walk just after breakfast just in the field behind the fortress to enjoy the bright morning sunshine. I saw something in the hedgerows, a bird that was pretty big , clambering clumsily along through the tangle of dry brush and grass. It was apparently hunting things on the ground and now and then it cocked its tail up in a pose reminecent of the roadrunners found in the desert of the U.S. It was very wary, and from a long distance half hidden in the bushes, it looked like a really chubby roadrunner that someone had spray painted black and rust. What I was stalking was a beautiful greater coucal wa member of the cuckoo family; the very same family as our beloved southwest greater roadrunner. The photos I took don't do it justice. The coucal was stunning, with a glossy black-purple head and body, wings a rich deep copper, and a long graduated tail that shone, almost glimmered, a glossy dark black green. Its head sported a strong, heavy black bill and then to add that bit of showmanship and pizzazz it had a brilliant ruby red eye. And for all you birdwatchers the coucal just like our roadrunner, has zygodactylous feet (two toes forward and two back) a characteristic of the cuckoo family. At 48 cm they are a big bird again about the same as our roadrunner. I have since learned that they are, indeed, weak fliers, and prefer walking on the ground as they forage for insects, small lizards and vipers, eggs and nestlings of other birds - much the same life style and diet as our roadrunners. I know its a common bird found in wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens, from Asia,to India, south China, Nepal and Indonesia. But it was the first one I had seen… … and what a beauty it was.
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Sharon K. SchaferI paint, photograph, and speak about wild places in an act of reciprocity that is as vital to me as heartbeat or breath.
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