Crow-Like, Black Bird With Reddish-Brown Back

by **Asiaphile** » September 18, 2011, 11:58 am

I often see a solitary, crow-like, black bird with a reddish-brown back in the scrubland behind my house. It is the size of a European/American crow/magpie. It is very shy and flies away or hides in the undergrowth the moment it sees me. However, this morning I managed to take a picture from behind the curtains before it was aware of my presence, and upload 2 clickable images of it.

I have never seen this bird elsewhere (though I must admit that I don’t frequent the countryside much), and wonder if it is a common bird here in Thailand. Does anyone happen to know the name?

by **dreamstalker007** » September 18, 2011, 12:14 pm

It looks like a Pheasant, which are pretty common in Thailand

by **parrot** » September 18, 2011, 12:22 pm

It's a greater coucal (crow-pheasant). I've seen them with frogs, toads, snakes, and large insects in their mouths. They're not much for flying....mostly forage along the ground.

by **Asiaphile** » September 18, 2011, 1:22 pm

parrot wrote:It's a greater coucal (crow-pheasant).

Thanks! I think you're right. I looked up "greater coucal" on the Web, and it does look a lot like the bird I saw.

by **maaka** » September 18, 2011, 2:27 pm

whats the one called that makes a noise like a siren, its weird..I never seen it, only heard it in rural areas..

by **parrot** » September 18, 2011, 7:19 pm

"makes a noise like a siren"
If you mean gawow, gawow, gawow, that's the Common Koel(Asian Koel) and it makes the noise when it's ready to breed. They also eat a variety of larger insects, snakes, lizards. We hear their call from the surrounding jungle, but unlike the greater coucal, we don't see the common koel.

Crow-Like, Black Bird With Reddish-Brown Back