Oriental Cuckooshrike Coracina javensis 大鵑鵙
Category I. Accidental.
IDENTIFICATION
23-30 cm. Notably larger and stockier than Black-winged Cuckooshrike. Overall slate-grey with dark face, throat and eye furrow, blackish flight feathers, whitish belly to undertail coverts and pale edges to the wing coverts and remiges. The bill is stout and blackish. Females have extensive grey barring on the underparts, while young birds have brownish scales or narrow bars on the underparts.
VOCALISATIONS
Most commonly heard is loud screeching diphthong ‘weerit’ or ‘weeit’, usually uttered in flight.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
The sole record occurred in evergreen broadleaf forest in the Tai Mo Shan massif.
OCCURRENCE
2020: one on 31 October at Tai Po Kau Headland (Barretto 2024).
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
Noted perched atop a tree before flying off.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Occurs in the Himalayan foothills east to southeast China (Limparungpatthanakij et al. 2024). In China it is stated by Liu and Chen (2021) to be present in Yunnan, south Guizhou and the coastal provinces of southeast China, including Hainan. However, the pattern of occurrence in HK would indicate that in coastal regions it is rare. Six subspecies are recognised by AviList Core Team (2025), with that occurring in southeast China being C. j. rexpineti.
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.
AviList Core Team (2025). AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025
Barretto, R. (2024). Large Cuckooshrike Coracina macei at Tai Po Kau Headland. The first Hong Kong record. Hong Kong Bird Report 2020: 247-249.
Limparungpatthanakij , W. L., P. F. D. Boesman, and B. Taylor (2024). Oriental Cuckooshrike (Coracina javensis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney and S. M. Billerman, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.larcuc11.01
Liu, Y. and S. H. Chen (eds) (2021). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House, Changsha.
