The Greater Coucal has red eyes, glossy black plumage and chestnut wings. In Singapore it often hides in dense forest undergrowth and gives a deep booming call.
It has glossy black plumage, chestnut wings and red eyes. NParks describes it as a large, crow-like bird.
Researchers surveyed Greater Coucals at nine sites in southern Punjab, Pakistan, from 2022 to 2024. Densities were highest in natural vegetation and farmland during the warmer months of April to June. At one site, the June estimate reached 45.67 birds per square kilometre. Counts were lower in semi-arid and urban places during winter, showing how strongly local numbers varied by season and habitat.
Across the three years, the study recorded a declining pattern, most clearly in semi-arid irrigated cropland. At one such site, the 2024 estimate was 15.00 ± 7.89 birds per square kilometre. The survey also recorded local vegetation, including Ziziphus shrubs, mango trees, and sugarcane, within the habitats where the birds were counted.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In this southern Punjab survey, density fell at semi-arid irrigated cropland sites between 2022 and 2024. The authors identify habitat degradation, seasonal resource variation, and human activity among the pressures affecting local counts, and describe habitat restoration and sustainable land use as conservation approaches.