Common Hawk-Cuckoo
Hierococcyx varius
Ananthagiri Forest Range & Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary, Telangana
The Brain-fever bird!
It’s easy to assume, with bird names, that we know what they mean, and often that assumption is quite correct. Woodpeckers peck wood, bee-eaters feed on bees, and whitethroats are indeed white around the neck. Other names seem almost wilfully obscure: what on Earth does the name puffin mean? Or hobby? Why are turtle doves named after reptiles? And don’t get me started on some of the more bizarre bird names found around the world – from zitting cisticola, leaflove to hardhead, and bananaquit to bearded mountaineer.
Yet, as I discovered when I was researching the origins of bird names, if you dig deep enough, you unearth all sorts of fascinating stories about what the names mean, where they came from and, especially, the men and women who created them. The origin of some names may, at first, seem obvious, yet are not quite as straightforward as they appear. Take the simplest of all bird names: blackbird. It’s a bird, and it’s black. Isn’t that all we need to know? But what about the crow, rook, raven? They’re black too so why was the Blackbird singled out as a ‘black‘ bird?
The reason for this apparent anomaly is that, until the late medieval period, birds were not called “birds” at all, but fowls – as in Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls. The word bird (originally the Anglo-Saxon brid), referred only to young fowls, or chicks. Then, sometime around the time Chaucer was writing, this meaning began to shift. From then on, although “fowl” was still used for larger birds such as members of the crow family, “bird” became the norm for all smaller birds, including the blackbird. So, at the time it was named, this really was the only truly “black bird”.
Many of our oldest bird names – including raven, rook and crow – are onomatopoeic: they imitate the sound made by the bird itself. Cuckoo, chiffchaff and kittiwake are other well-known examples. Far less obvious ones include nightjar (from the “churring” sound made by this nocturnal bird), bittern (from its deep, booming call), and the aforementioned turtle dove. “Turtle” is a corruption of the bird’s soft “tur-tur” call, so has nothing to do with the aquatic reptile.
Other ancient bird names relate to a bird’s appearance: its size, colour, shape or distinctive markings. Again, some are obvious: such as great spotted woodpecker, long-tailed tit and the Dollarbird. But with others it takes some linguistic detective work to uncover their true meaning. Take the familiar redstart and wheatear. Both names superficially make sense, yet as soon as you look more closely, they become problematic. After all, redstarts are not noticeably jumpy, and I’ve certainly never seen a wheatear in a field of wheat.
The reason these names appear puzzling is down to the Norman Conquest of Britain. Perhaps the greatest change that resulted from this invasion was in everyday language: within a century or so, Anglo-Saxon had merged with Norman French to create a new, hybrid tongue known as Middle English – the precursor to the way we speak today. But as the old language fell into disuse, some of its words no longer made any sense. So, by a process called false etymology, people made up new versions, which sounded plausible, even if their original meaning had been lost. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon “red steort” (meaning red tail) turned into redstart; and “wheteres” – literally white arse, changed into wheatear. Norman French also had a major influence on the names of ducks (mallard and wigeon), game birds (pheasant and partridge), and raptors (peregrine and hobby).
What these all have in common is that they were important to the Norman nobility – either as food, or for hunting and sport – so their French names took precedence over the older, English ones. From the 18th century onwards, existing names were codified by professional ornithologists who also coined new ones, such as black-tailed godwit or white-fronted goose. A trend also arose for naming birds after people: sometimes those who had discovered the species, such as George Montagu (Montagu’s Harrier).
Many birds are named based on the color of their body feathers, shape and size of their body parts and food habits and interestingly, some of them get their names from the way they call or sing. Many will have seen an Asian Koel, a well known brood parasite of crows (i.e. they don’t build their own nests but lay eggs on other bird nests). How did the Asian Koel get its name? The female gives a bubbling call, while the male calls Koo…oo…Koo..oo and sometimes calls Ko..el…Ko..el… Ko..el And that’s why we call them Koel!
There are many more birds that get their names based on their calls and songs. These names are called onomatopoeic names. If you listen to a Common Cuckoo (which is a migratory bird from Europe) you will know why this bird is called what it’s called. The call is a two note Cuk…koo…Cuk…koo…Cuk…koo. Our bird of interest today the Common Hawk-Cuckoo is another bird which gets its name from its call. They are also called the Brainfever bird as their ceaseless call sounds very much like someone saying Brain Fever…Brain Fever. The best part of bird watching and listening to their calls is that if you have heard these bird calls or songs you will recall these words. Different languages have different words and meanings while rendering the bird calls (like that of Common hawk cuckoo). There are various stories from folklores behind some of these bird calls and songs too.
The Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary is situated along the river Manjeera at a distance of 5 km from the quaint town of Sangareddy and about 50 kms northwest of the capital city of Hyderabad. The sanctuary, spread over 20 km², follows the course of the Manjeera River, a tributary of the mighty River Godavari, for 36 kms and is also home to the Manjeera Bird Sanctuary and has a manmade reservoir which provides drinking water to the twin cities of Hyderabad & Secunderabad. It has nine small islands, including Puttigadda, Bapangadda, Sangamadda and Karnamgadda containing extensive marshy fringes, which act as nesting sites for aquatic birds. Additionally, a thick cover of trees provide nesting spots for other birds.
The vegetation found around this freshwater ecosystem is of the dry savannah type and the reservoir supports both submergence & emergent types of vegetation. The periphery is abundantly covered by the plant species of Typha, Ipomoea and Acacia while agricultural fields surround the reservoir and river.
Originally this riverine habitat was developed as a crocodile sanctuary to protect the Vulnerable Mugger Crocodile, a medium-sized broad-snouted crocodile, native to freshwater habitats from southern Iran to the Indian Subcontinent. Today between 400 and 700 crocodiles call this home along with over 70 species of birds, fresh water turtles, prawns, molluscs and various varieties of fish. I have also seen monitor lizards & cobras and am told there are Indian Hares, Wild Boar, Mongoose & Jackals.
By some counts there are over 73 species of birds seen here like the large flocks of common teals, cotton pygmy goose & ruddy shelduck. Upstream is home to a significant number of cranes and bar-headed geese and the native breeders like the Darter, Asian Openbills, Painted Storks, Eurasian Coot and the Black-crowned Night Heron. These I will write about soon too.
On the banks of the Manjeera river, in a village called Kalabgoor, there is a temple, Sri Kasi Vishweshwara temple, that is said to have been constructed some 800 years ago during the glorious reign of the Kakatiyas. The temple like all temples of legend has magnificent architecture and is entirely made of stone, with some standing pillars created out of a single block. The temple is dedicated to the lord Shiva and also houses other gods like Lord Krishna, Ganapati & the goddess Saraswati. There are two other famous temples in the vicinity - Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple and Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple. Together these are known as Trikootaalayamu - which translates to “a three shrine complex”.
The sanctuary has an Environmental Education Centre consisting of a museum, a library, and an auditorium where films about birds and animals are shown daily. There are boat services available to take the visitors around the sanctuary for bird watching, with binoculars and books to identify birds provided to visitors. The museum has exhibits depicting the complex biodiversity of the wetlands. The best season to visit this sanctuary is from November to March when major migrant birds nest and breed here. Accommodation for visitors is available at inspection bungalows in the town of Sangareddy, Singur and Sadasivapet.
Read about some of the birds of this sanctuary.
Ananthagiri Hills is located in the Vikarabad district of Telangana. It is one of two major reserve forest blocks of the Vikarabad Forest Range the other one being the Damagundam Forest Reserve and each of these forest blocks is spread over a 10 square kilometre area. While the limits of Damagundam begin from Manneguda, a small town about 60 kms from Hyderabad, Ananthagiri block begins where the limits of Vikarabad end near the railway tracks. The Ananthagiri hills and their dense forests host many wild species like the Nilgai, Sambhar, Black Buck, Chital, Chowsingha, Chinkara, Wild Goats and many more. The streams from these hills flows into Osman Sagar, also known as the Gandipet lake, and Himayath Sagar. It is one of the denser forests in Telangana and is the birthplace (about 5 kilometers from the town of Vikarabad) of the Musi river, also known as the Muchkunda River, which flows through the capital city, Hyderabad. The Musi River after originating in these Ananthagiri Hills, about 90 kilometers to the west of Hyderabad and flowing due east for almost all of its course joins the Krishna River at Wadapally in the Nalgonda district after covering a total distance of about 240 km. Also in these forests is the Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to the Lord Vishnu.
According to the Skanda Purana it is believed this temple was installed by Rishi Markandeya in the Dvapara Yuga. Attracted by the peaceful atmosphere of the Ananthagiri Hills Rishi Markandeya came here for yoga sadhana. It is believed that the Rishi, on the strength of his spiritual powers, would visit Kasi daily for a bath in the sacred Ganges through a cave. One day he was not able to visit Kasi because the Dwadasi was in the early hours of the morning. Because of this miss the Lord Vishnu appeared, gave Darshan, in a dream and arranged for the Ganges to flow so the Rishi could take his bath daily without having to travel.
About 400 years back the Nizams of Hyderabad used these forests as their hunting grounds. It is said that the lord Vishnu in the form of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy appeared in a dream and asked the then Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, to build a temple for him. About 20 kilometers from the temple lies the Nagasamudram Lake or Kotipally Reservoir, a masonry dam.
It is one of the earliest habitat areas with ancient caves, medieval fort structures and temples that illustrate the antiquity of this area.
I love these forests as they are home to innumerable bird species, some of which I have photographed and many more which I am yet to photograph. I only hope the so called “bird and nature lovers” who come here to photograph and achieve social media fame adhere to ethical birding practices and refrain from using calls, especially owl calls, and bait. Over the years I have seen the behaviour of the wildlife change in these forests. Birds like this nightjar were easily visible without having to venture deep into the dense brush but now the overload of visitors has pushed these birds deep into the undergrowth. I think, in a way, it is good for the birds because it requires time and patience to slowly approach them which the modern bird lover/ photographer and nature enthusiast and social media aficionado lacks.
Read about the other lovely species I have photographed in the Ananthagiri Forests.
Common Hawk-Cuckoo/ Brainfever Bird
The Common Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius), popularly known as the brainfever bird, is a medium-sized cuckoo resident in the Indian subcontinent. It bears a close resemblance to the Shikra, even in its style of flying and landing on a perch. The resemblance to hawks gives this group the generic name of hawk-cuckoo and like many other cuckoos these are brood parasites, laying their eggs in nests of babblers. If you have ever heard their calls you will know why the term “brainfever” is used to describe it. The three-note “cu-cu-koo” is repeated in a rising crescendo, with the second note being longer and higher pitched, and ends abruptly, only to begin again a moment later. It can be heard most times of the day and sometimes even at the oddest hours of the night. The febrile (feverish) call has a frantic quality to it, probably hinting at the male bird’s desperate search for a mate. As with most in the animal kingdom, it is the male which is tasked with calling for mates and warning off other males; the females are conspicuously silent.
The Common Hawk-Cuckoo is a medium- to large-sized cuckoo, about the size of a pigeon about 34 cm. The plumage is ashy grey above; whitish below, cross-barred with brown. The tail is broadly barred. The sexes are alike. They have a distinctive yellow eye ring. Subadults have the breast streaked, similar to the immature shikra, and there are large brown chevron marks on the belly. At first glance they can be mistaken for a hawk. When flying they use a flap and glide style that resembles that of sparrowhawks (especially the shikra) and flying upwards and landing on a perch they shake their tails from side to side. Many small birds and squirrels raise the alarm just as they would in the presence of a hawk. The sexes are alike but males tend to be larger.
They can be confused with the large hawk-cuckoo, which, however, has dark streaks on the throat and breast. Young birds have a pale chin but young large hawk-cuckoos have a black chin.
During summer months, before the monsoons, the males are easily detected by their repeated calls but can be difficult to spot. The call is a loud screaming three-note call, repeated 5 or 6 times, rising in crescendo and ending abruptly. It is heard throughout the day and frequently during moonlit nights. The calls of females are a series of grating notes. Common hawk-cuckoos feed mainly on insects and are specialised feeders that can handle hairy caterpillars. Caterpillar guts often contain toxins and like many cuckoos they remove the guts by pressing the caterpillar and rubbing it on a branch before swallowing it. The hairs are swallowed with the caterpillar and are separated in the stomach and regurgitated as a pellet.
There are two subspecies, the nominate from India and ciceliae of the hill regions of Sri Lanka. The Indian population has paler plumage than ciceliae
The common hawk-cuckoo occurs in most of the Indian subcontinent, from Pakistan in the west, across the Himalayas foothills, east to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and North East India and south into Sri Lanka. Some birds of the Indian population winter in Sri Lanka. In the hills of central Sri Lanka, ciceliae is a resident. It is generally resident but where occurring at high altitudes and in arid areas is locally migratory. It is found in the lower elevations (mostly below 1000m) of the Himalayas but in the higher areas, the large hawk-cuckoo tends to be more common.
The species is arboreal and rarely descends to the ground. Its habitat includes garden land, groves of tree, deciduous and semi-evergreen forests.
Like many other cuckoos, this species is a brood parasite, preferring babblers mainly in the genus Turdoides (possibly the only host) and also reportedly on laughingthrushes of the genus Garrulax.
Birds have inspired folktales all over the world and in a culturally diverse country like India, stories and beliefs centred around birds are innumerable. Many of these stories explain a bird’s call or impart its significance for a particular community. Common ones are: the cawing of a crow signals the arrival of guests; good luck is associated with the call of the greater coucal. Cuckoos have long been seen as harbingers of spring. They have been the focus of many romantic songs and poems in India. Sarat Chandra Mitra, a noted Bengali scholar of Indian folklore, wrote in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal that “[The cuckoo’s] notes are supposed by the poets to awaken feelings of love in the hearts of lovers separated from their sweethearts, and make them yearn for the company of their absent mates.”
The hawk-cuckoo’s call however has no such romance attached to it; no poet has waxed eloquent about their call, even though both the koel (Asian koel, Eudynamys scolopaceus) and the hawk-cuckoo can be heard around the same time of year. The persistent calls and many sightings of the koel reminded me that in all my years of birdwatching, I’ve only seen the hawk-cuckoo a few times. They can be rather hard to spot, sitting deep in a tree’s canopy.
The call of this bird has been popularly transcribed as brain-fever in English (in some old books, this name is also incorrectly used for the Asian Koel). Frank Finn noted that [H]is note, however, fully entitles him to his ordinary designation, whether from its "damnable iteration" or from its remarkable resemblance to the word "brain-fever" repeated in a piercing voice running up the scale. Other interpretations of the bird call include piyaan kahan in Hindi ("where's my love") or chokh gelo (in Bengali, "my eyes are gone") and paos ala (Marathi, "the rains are coming"). In Bodo, the call sounds like "haab fisha houwa", which means dear son (where are you).
The call "Pee kahan" or "Papeeha" is more accurately represented by the shrill screaming "pi-peeah" of the Large Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx sparverioides), which replaces the brainfever bird along the Himalayas and its foothills.
The brainfever bird's call may be heard all through the day, starting early before dawn and frequently during moonlit nights. A novel by the Indian author Allan Sealy is named after this bird.
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