Pied Cuckoo in the news (and recent sightings)
The early arrival of the monsoon and a possible link with Pied Cuckoo arrivals is the subject of a short article by Max Martin
writing in the Mail Today on Saturday, 6 June. (Please note that the photo was taken by Clement Francis.) A shortened version also appeared in The Hindu News Update Service on the same day.
We’d like to clarify that the earliest first sighting date for migrant Pied Cuckoos this year was not from the Biligiriranga Hills in Karnataka (which is what the article says), but rather from Kolkata on 17th May by Kshounish Sankar Ray.
Other recent sightings have included:
Chandigarh, 23 May (Vikram Jit Singh); Bangalore, 24 May (Suma Rao); 26 May, Bhubaneswar (Aditya C Panda); 26 May, Dehra Dun (Suniti Bhushan Datta); 28 May, Nagpur (Soham Mehta); 29 May, Jalpaiguri (Mousumi Dutta); 2 June, Pune (Anirudh Chaoji); 7 June, Goa (Fionna Prins). All these sightings were reported to MigrantWatch and can be seen on the Pied Cuckoo Campaign page after you log in. (you can also see records from previous years, all the way back to 1910).
In addition to these sightings, Sunjoy Monga saw a Pied Cuckoo at Mumbai on 1 June, Mumbai (sent to birdsof bombay); Arunachalam Kumar reported seeing a Pied Cuckoo on 10 May in Mangalore (sent to bngbirds), but it isn’t clear whether the species is migrant or resident in this area.
For those of you who are tracking the progress of the monsoon rains, the Indian Meteorological Department, Mumbai has a very useful map indicating the dates of normal onset of the monsoon (there is also a more detailed map on wikipedia). The map for this year’s onset of the monsoon (from IMD, Pune) shows how much earlier the rains have arrived in 2009.
Vikram Jit Singh says:
June 30th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I had an uncanny experience with the pied cuckoo. I had seen it last at this location, the Shiwalik Golf Course, Chandimandir (near Chandigarh), on 29-5-2009. However, while playing golf on the 7th hole on 29-6-2009, I was hit by a cool moisture laden wind coming in from the east. It had been terribly hot in the chandigarh area till now. However, on 29-6-2009, the wind had changed and blew in from the east. That same time I noticed the pied cuckoo sitting on a kikar tree with the fresh moisture laden winds coming straight to the tree. That very night, we had strong pre-monsoon showers in the chandigarh area. Bravo to the cuckoo! I seemed to have brought in the monsoons.
Vikram Jit Singh says:
July 1st, 2009 at 11:56 pm
My ties with the pied cuckoo grow as the rains advance in the Chandigarh area. I saw the cuckoo first on May 23, 2009, and then again on May 29, 2009. It disappeared after that. However, as the monsoon rains lash Chandigarh from June 29, 2009, onwards, the cuckoo is back with a vigour. I saw two of them on June 30, 2009, in the late afternoon while playing golf at the Shiwalik Golf Course, Chandimandir. It was drizzling when I saw both the birds. There reappearance at Chandimandir is directly linked to the rains.
Vikram Jit Singh says:
July 15th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I can state with a degree of authenticity that the visits of the pied cuckoo to the Shiwalik Golf Course, Chandimandir, near Chandigarh are closely linked to the rains. This is evident from my two earlier comments. This observation is strenghtended by the continuing rains in the area and the daily sightings of the cuckoo. The cuckoo had all but disappeared in the month of June when Chandigarh recorded its driest month in a decade.
Nikhil Vijaykumar Gorde says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I saw a couple of Pied Cuckoo at the Dighi hills which is about 10 kms away from the Pune city. The sight of its flight was truely awesome! I feel that it has brought the monsoons to Pune……Hoping for many more sightings….
Prasad Kumar Dash says:
June 3rd, 2011 at 5:59 am
Hello everyone, I am an ecologist from Orissa. I saw a pair of pied crested cuckoo today near my village(7 km from Bhubaneswar, Orissa). All are right in saying that they are harbinger of monsson rain.
Prasad