Jacobin cuckoo, harbinger of monsoon, sighted in Asifabad forests

A pair of Jacobin cuckoo, also known as pied cuckoo, a rare and migratory bird was sighted in the forests of Kaghaznagar forest division.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A pair of Jacobin cuckoo, also known as pied cuckoo, a rare and migratory bird was sighted in the forests of Kaghaznagar forest division, cheering Forest officials and environmentalists. The migration of the bird indicates the arrival of the monsoon, according to Forest officials.

“Rajesh Kanny, a photographer of the Forest department photographed the image of the winged visitor in the forests of Darigaon village in Kaghaznagar mandal on Friday. The bird migrates to a forest whenever the region sees the onset of monsoon,” District Forest Officer Neeraj Kumar D told ‘Telangana Today.’

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Forest Range Officer S Venugopal said the Jacobin cuckoo is usually found in the African and Asian continents. It is considered as the harbinger of the monsoon due to the timings of its arrival. It has been associated with a bird in Indian mythology which is known as Chatak, which has a beak on its head that waits for rains to quench its thirst. It is found in lowland and foothill open forests and plains, often in thorny growth.

Forest officials said the uniqueness of the bird was that it drinks only rainwater, adding that it was seen in the forests of the region in previous years too.