Common Squirrel-Cuckoo
Piaya cayana
It earns its name by running along branches with squirrel-like agility rather than flying between them.
- Scientific name
- Piaya cayana
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Cuculiformes › Cuculidae › Piaya
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Canopy and mid-story of tropical forests, woodland edges, and shaded coffee plantations.
- Diet
- Large insects like caterpillars and cicadas, spiders, and occasionally small lizards.
- Range
- Mexico, Central America, South America
- Size
- 40-50 cm in length, with the tail making up more than half its body size.
- Lifespan
- 5-10 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Deforestation and urban expansion, though it is somewhat tolerant of secondary growth.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and shy. Best observed with binoculars from a distance to avoid startling it. If found stunned from a window strike, place in a ventilated box in a quiet area for one hour before releasing.
The squirrel cuckoo ( Piaya cayana ) is a large and active species of cuckoo found in wooded habitats from northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad. Some authorities have split off the western Mexican form as the Mexican squirrel-cuckoo ( Piaya mexicana ).
Photo: er-birds, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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