Order
Cuculiformes
Family
Cuculidae
Genus
Neomorphus
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo Neomorphus pucheranii

Janice M. Hughes
Version: 1.0 — Published December 1, 2017

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Vocalizations

The song of Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo is "a short (1 sec), deep, rising hoot in a series of about 1 note/2 sec" (Lane, in Schulenberg et al. 2010), and this series may be continued for several minutes (or longer?). An earlier description of the song, by Alfonso M. Ollala (in Gyldenstlope 1945), as "a curious roaring noise ... [that] somewhat resembled that made by a mutum" (curassow, Mitu sp.), presumably refers to this same vocalization; Olalla heard a cuckoo giving this vocalization at night, from about 03:00 to sunrise, and again the next morning at ca 10:00.

One observer described the call of the Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo as "hog-like" because it resembles the noise that a hog (probably meaning peccary) makes when it is excited, and concluded that this explains the species being given the local name sataicu or huangana pisco meaning Hog-bird (Lawrence 1873). It is more likely, however, that this name originated from the habit of Red-billed Ground-Cuckoos (and other Neomorphus species) following peccaries to feed on insects and other prey items that are flushed from the vegetation as the animals move through it. See Foraging Behavior.

There are very few audio recordings of vocalizations of Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo; examples can be heard at xeno-canto.

Nonvocal Sounds

As with other ground-cuckoos, including Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo makes a snapping sound, which it produces with its mandibles, that sounds like breaking sticks (Siegel et al. 1989). They produce this sound when foraging (Samuel M. Klages, in Todd 1925) and when disturbed (Willis 1982).

It has been suggested that this bill clacking vocalization mimics the sound of teeth clacking in peccaries. As such, it could serve to ward off predators by triggering clacking by peccaries, or by implying that peccaries are present when they are not; peccary herds can frighten off many potential predators. In addition, it could foster a mutualistic relationship between the peccaries and ground-cuckoos by alerting each other to the presence of predators, or by ground-cuckoos acting as sentinels with peccaries providing protection to the assemblage (Raposo do Amaral et al. 2017). See Foraging Behavior.

Audio recordings of bill snapping by Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo can be heard at Macaulay Library and at xeno-canto.

Recommended Citation

Hughes, J. M. (2017). Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo (Neomorphus pucheranii), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.rbgcuc1.01