A cuckoo of Hispaniola and nearby islands, it uses its long tail as it searches among branches for lizards and large insects.
Typical adults have a gray back, red throat and belly, and black tail feathers tipped with white. The Gonâve Island subspecies petersi has a white throat and paler underparts.
It is often alone, though it may join mixed flocks in pine forest. It searches branches and trunks for lizards and large insects.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.