Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana

Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana mexicana. Bird photographed in Parque National Huatulco, Huatulco, Oaxaca, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana mexicana. Photograph taken in the greater Alamos area, Alamos, Sonora, April 2018. Photograph and  identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

The Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana mexicana, is one of fourteen subspecies of Squirrel Cuckoo, two of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Cuculiformes Family of Cuckoos, which has one hundred and forty-seven members placed in thirty-three genera, and one of two global species of the Piaya Genus. They are known in Mexico as cuco ardilla común. They receive their common names from their coloration and movements in trees that resemble those of a squirrel, such as the Mexican Gray Squirrel.

The Squirrel Cuckoo is large in stature. They sexes have similar plumages. They have a rufous brown appearance with a buffy throat and breast and a light gray belly. They have an extremely long graduated tail that is rufous above and has black rectrices on the undersides with a black subterminal bar and broad white tips. Their bill is greenish-yellow, their iris is dark red, and their legs and toes are bluish gray or lead gray.

The Squirrel Cuckoo is found in a wide range of habitats including forested, wooded areas within tropical deciduous forests, coffee plantations, and gallery forests to primarily humid lowland rainforests at elevations up to 2,000 m (6,600 feet). They consume a wide variety of insects supplemented with small lizards and fruits. The biology and behavioral patterns of the Squirrel Cuckoo have been poorly documented.

In Mexico the Squirrel Cuckoo are found in the coastal regions within the Atlantic Slope from Veracruz to Belize and within the Pacific Slope from Sinaloa to Guatemala. The mexicana subspecies is found within the Pacific Slope from Sinaloa to Guatemala.

The Squirrel Cuckoo, due its unique plumages, cannot be easily confused with any other species.

From a conservation perspective the Squirrel Cuckoo is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They have not been negatively impacted by human development but require access to tall woody vegetation for long term survival.