Endangered
Sumatran Ground Cuckoo
Carpococcyx viridis
The Sumatran ground cuckoo is a large, terrestrial species of cuckoo endemic to the forests of Sumatra in Indonesia.
Appearance
Its wings and long, full tail are glossy greenish-black, while its mantle, upper back, neck sides, lower throat, upper breast, covert feathers, and secondary feathers are dull green. Its crown is black, and the bare skin around its eyes are hues of green, lilac, and blue. Its bill and legs are green, and its underparts below the upper breast are cinnamon buff.
The Sumatran ground cuckoo is a large bird of about 55 cm (22 in) in length.
It was first described in 1879 and, despite being identified as a separate species in the 1880s, was formerly considered conspecific with the Bornean ground cuckoo until recently being returned to the status of a unique species.
Range and habitat
The Sumatran ground cuckoo is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Notes on early specimen labels as well as recent sightings suggest its favoured habitat is foothills and primary montane forest. It has been found between elevations of 300 and 1,400 m (975 and 4,600 ft), although recent sightings are exclusively from 800–1,000 m (2,600–3,300 ft).
Habitat labels include foothills and forest.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The Sumatran ground cuckoo's diet is thought to consist of invertebrates, small mammals, and reptiles.
In crisis
Considered endangered species by the IUCN Red List, it was initially known from just eight specimens and evaded notice from 1916 until 1997, when it was rediscovered and photographed. Due to ongoing habitat loss and small population size, the IUCN Red List evaluates the Sumatran ground cuckoo as endangered. The Red List estimates that the total population of Sumatran ground cuckoos ranges from 50 to 249 mature individuals, and its population is thought to be decreasing.
The bird's known range overlaps with some of the Barisan Mountains' 20 protected areas, but rapid deforestation – its main threat – is prevalent even in these areas. A 2003 study showed an average 2% loss of forest within Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, part of its known range, between 1985 and 1999.
Sumatran Ground Cuckoo is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Sumatran Ground Cuckoo, Wikidata item Q604404. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
