Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalensis) - BirdLife species factsheet

Lesser Coucal Centropus bengalensis

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	21,100,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.26 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be abundant in open country (del Hoyo et al. 1997), while national population sizes have been estimated at c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs and c.1,000-10,000 individuals on migration in China and c.10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Taiwan (Brazil 2009). The population is suspected to be increasing as ongoing habitat degradation is creating new areas of suitable habitat.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be increasing as ongoing habitat degradation is creating new areas of suitable habitat.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor
Bangladesh	extant	native	yes
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Brunei	extant	native	yes
Cambodia	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Malaysia	extant	native	yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Nepal	extant	native	yes
Philippines	extant	native		yes
Singapore	extant	native		yes
Sri Lanka	extant	vagrant			yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Moist	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1800 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Other household goods	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Lesser Coucal Centropus bengalensis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-coucal-centropus-bengalensis on 26/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/11/2024.