HK Wetland Park 31 May 2018 - juvenile Hawk Cuckoo

On this hot final day in May, I went out for an hour. Best of the day is no doubt the juvenile Hawk Cuckoo. The bird was firstly mobbed by Black Drongo, which maybe due to its Accipiter jizz, but I quickly found out this is a cuckoo species. Hudgson's Hawk Cuckoo is always a species I want to get a better view, but I have never heard and even seen this species here during migration in both fall and spring or in summer.

Identifying cuckoo into species can be difficult but after some better view in seconds, this bird is clearly large in size, showing a larger head and cleaner body (Hudgson's shows more compact body shape and more rufous streaks, also they prefer more woodland habitats), hence can be identified as Large Hawk Cuckoo. As this bird is still a juvenile and was making some 'begging call', I waited to see its host, and found out to be Masked Laughingthrush. According to the HBW Alive, it is not uncommon to see laughingthrush species, like Masked Laughingthrush, to be the host of  Large Hawk Cuckoo.

Anyway, still my first time to observe a juvenile Large Hawk Cuckoo and its host in HK, a reward in a 34 degree lunchtime. The full checklist as here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46175483

the first view of the hawk cuckoo

juvenile Large Hawk Cuckoo - one of my best view of a Hawk Cuckoo!

as see here, Large Hawk Cuckoo with a Masked Laughingthrush, which is its 'parent'