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Photo: Lalit Shastri

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Coucal is one of about 30 species of birds in the cuckoo family. All of them belong in the subfamily Centropodinae and the genus Centropus. Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites. On the other hand they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are to varying degrees sex-role reversed so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care.

Coucals generally make nests inside dense vegetation and they usually have the top covered but some species have the top open. Some coucal species have been seen to fly while carrying their young.

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