Crested coua

The crested coua (Coua cristata) is a medium-sized, approximately 44 cm long, greenish-grey coua with grey crest, blue bare orbital skin, rufous breast, brown iris, black bill and legs, white belly and long white-tipped purplish-blue tail feathers.

Crested coua
At Anjajavy Forest, Madagascar
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Cuculiformes
Family: Cuculidae
Genus: Coua
Species:
C. cristata
Binomial name
Coua cristata
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms

Cuculus cristatus Linnaeus, 1766

The crested coua is distributed and endemic to forests, savanna and brushland of Madagascar. It is found from sea level to altitude of 900 metres.

Subspecies
  • Coua cristata maxima – only known from a single specimen; possibly extinct (late 20th century) or a hybrid.

Diet

The diet consists mainly of various insects, fruits, berries, seeds, snails and chameleons. The female usually lays two white eggs in a nest made from twigs.

Widespread and a common species throughout its large habitat range, the crested coua is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Coua cristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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