Striped Cuckoo

About the Striped Cuckoo

The striped cuckoo (Tapera naevia) is a near-passerine bird, the only member of the genus Tapera. This resident cuckoo is found from Mexico and Trinidad south to Bolivia and Argentina and Colombia. The striped cuckoo is found in open country with trees or shrubs, and the edges of mangrove forests. It is among the very few brood parasitic cuckoos of the Americas (only other are Dromococcyx), and typical hosts are spinetails, but often also wrens, and other species with domed nests. The female cuckoo lays one, sometimes two, white or bluish eggs in the host's large stick nest. The eggs hatch in 15 days, with a further 18 days until the cuckoo fledges. The young spinetails disappear. This species is about 27 cm (11 in) long and weighs 40 g (1.4 oz).

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Tapera naevia

Family

Cuckoos

Order

Cuculiformes

Similar species

Other members of the cuckoos family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Black-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus erythropthalmus
• Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus
• Common Squirrel-Cuckoo Piaya cayana
• Dark-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus melacoryphus
• Greater Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus
• Groove-billed Ani Crotophaga sulcirostris
• Lesser Ground-Cuckoo Morococcyx erythropygus
• Lesser Roadrunner Geococcyx velox
• Mangrove Cuckoo Coccyzus minor
• Mexican Squirrel-Cuckoo Piaya mexicana
• Oriental Cuckoo Cuculus optatus
• Pheasant Cuckoo Dromococcyx phasianellus