Oriental Cuckoo

The Oriental or Horsfield's cuckoo was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan cuckoo. The adult male has a grey head, breast and upperparts and a creamy-white belly with dark bars. The legs and feet are orange-yellow with a bare yellow ring around the eye. A rufous form is reddish-brown above and strongly barred all over (Wikipedia, general species account).

The male's call is a series of low, paired notes, poo-poo, with both notes stressed equally, somewhat like a hoopoe's, and the female gives a deep bubbling trill. It is a brood parasite whose smooth, slightly glossy eggs vary in colour, sometimes mimicking the host's. Incubation takes about 12 days and the young fledge after 17 to 19 days. The account opened does not describe it in Bhutan.