About Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, 1837
Description: Male African cuckoo-hawks (Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, 1837) are blackish-brown on the upper body, with a grey mantle, grey chest, and a blackish crest. Their underparts are white and marked with broad chestnut bars. The tail is black, with three grey bars and a grey-and-white tip. Females are browner overall, and have paler chestnut bars on their underparts. In flight, this species is distinctive as a small raptor with a small head, broad, narrowly rounded wings, and a medium-length tail. Wingspan is just over twice the bird's body length, and females are slightly larger than males. Distribution and subspecies: The African cuckoo-hawk is found across most of sub-Saharan Africa. Three subspecies are recognized: A. c. cuculoides, which ranges from Senegal to southwestern Ethiopia and the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo; A. c. batesi, which ranges from Sierra Leone to Uganda and northern Angola; and A. c. verreauxii, which ranges from Kenya to Namibia and eastern South Africa. Habitat: The African cuckoo-hawk is a shy species. It occurs in the interior and along the edges of evergreen forest and deciduous woodlands, including suburban gardens and more open savannas, at elevations up to 3,000 m (9,800 ft). When migrating through eastern Africa, it also occurs in drier woodland and bush.
