From Bo Apostol

RAMBUTAN? 😊

Rough-crested Malkoha

UPLB, Laguna | October 2026 Canon EOSR5 x RF800 F11 ISO 10,000 | SS 1/500 | F11 | Handheld

It's a non-parasitic species of cuckoo from the Philippines.

Here's a random full body photo so you can see its full glory.

Looks beautiful, and I didn't know non parasitic cuckoos are a thing.

Me neither. The behavior of the infamous ones seems to overshadow the majority that don't engage in the behavior.

The cuckoo wiki has a surprising amount of great info. There are around 150 species of cuckoo, and only around 56 engage in brood parasitism.

There seems to be some great evolutionary adaptations to allow it. Holding onto eggs in the body longer, early hatching, egg coloration mimicry, and double layer shells. Worth a read if you thought the non-parasitic laying was interesting. The parasitic aspect seems to involve way more than just stopping by a briefly unattended nest!

That's very interesting, thank you for sharing. I wonder if it's like those finches where each of them has a slight but specific variation, same way each cuckoo species that is parasitic has slight variations based on their target birds

A few years ago, I never would have figured myself for a bird person, but I've learned so much about their diversity and capabilities, and they are such versatile and amazing animals.

I know for a few species of owl, I've gotten fairly decent at telling what part of the continent some photos are from, as their base plumage color can vary based on latitude and what types of trees grow there. Things like that feel like great support of natural selection, much like Darwin's finches changed based on the food sources of their particular islands.

I'm glad you had a lot of fun learning! I did too.