Piaya

For the Filipino food, see Piaya (food).

Piaya
Squirrel cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Cuculiformes
Family:	Cuculidae
Genus:	Piaya Lesson, 1830
Type species
Cuculus cayanus Linnaeus, 1766
Species
P. cayana P. melanogaster

Piaya is a small genus of relatively large and long-tailed cuckoos, which occur in Mexico, Central America and South America.

Species

The two species in taxonomic order are:

Genus Piaya – Lesson, 1830 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Squirrel cuckoo	Piaya cayana (Linnaeus, 1766)	northwestern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and on Trinidad.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Black-bellied cuckoo	Piaya melanogaster (Vieillot, 1817)	Amazon basin and Guyana Shield.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

The little cuckoo has been found to be closer to some species traditionally placed in Coccyzus or Micrococcyx. These are now again separated in Coccycua.

Description and ecology

These birds are birds with relatively slender bodies, long tails and strong legs. The black-bellied cuckoo is essentially restricted to rainforest, but the more widespread squirrel cuckoo also occurs in other forest types, woodlands or mangroves.

Piaya cuckoos, unlike many Old World species, are not brood parasites; they build their own nests in trees and lay two eggs. Parasitic cuckoos lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts, but the non-parasitic Piaya species, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs.

These are vocal species with persistent and loud calls. They feed on large insects such as cicadas, wasps and caterpillars (including those with stinging hairs or spines which are distasteful to many birds). Squirrel and black-bellied cuckoos are large and powerful species, and occasionally take vertebrate prey such as small lizards.

Further reading

• ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
• Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
• Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica ISBN 0-8014-9600-4