Squirrel Cuckoo Gallery

Piaya cayana

The Birds of the World Website introduces the Squirrel Cuckoo like this:  The Squirrel Cuckoo is a pan-Neotropical inhabitant of a large diversity of forested, wooded, and disturbed habitats across the entire humidity gradient from tropical deciduous forest, coffee plantations, and gallery forests to primary humid lowland rainforest. It is common and is most often seen in gliding from one tree to another, or energetically hopping from branch to branch in search of a wide variety of arthropods. Though distinctive throughout its range it is highly polytypic with fourteen subspecies that vary in the coloration of their underparts, throat, bare parts, and tail. Some of these subspecies are quite distinct, and due to their lack of  integration with adjoining subspecies perhaps represent separate species.

I saw and photographed my first Squirrel Cuckoo on the morning of August 18, 2023 in the Amazon Basin Region of Brazil.  Our small group with Jeff Parker Tours was in an observation tower watching a Harpy Eagle nest when we spotted a Squirrel Cuckoo in the nearby canopy.  For a more detailed description of this day, look here at my blog post on my Brazil trip.  Here are some of my photos of this elegant bird.