Thank you for the Spring poems, Yorkie.
That is a pretty bird ... is it a Cuckoo?
Yes, it is, Amy. It is called the Common Hawk Cuckoo. Here is a little information on the bird, along with the link where the picture and information originated:
The bird is sitting on a tree called Casia fistula, its yellow flower is the State Flower Kerala. This flower is essential for a ritual called “Vishu Kani” which is associated with the second major festival of ours called Vishu (New year). The flowers are called “Kanikonna” in malayalam.
Common hawk-Cuckoo, Cuculus varius vahl, is also known as Brainfever Bird because of its loud persistent screaming of “brain-fever, brain fever”. The bird is the size of a pigeon with longer tail. It is ashy grey above, whitish below, cross barred with brown and a broadly barred tail. It looks, moves, and flies very much like the Shikra Hawk. It is seen singly in wooded country, partial to gardens, groves and mango topes etc near human habitations.
This bird keeps silent mostly during winter and therefore is liable to be overlooked. It becomes increasingly noisy with the advance of hot weather. Its call is loud ‘brain fever’ repeated several times, heard all through the day and frequentlyduring moonlit nights.
It eats hairy caterpillars and other insects, berries and wild figs.
It’s nesting season is March to June coinciding with that of Turdoides babblers on whose nests it is parasitic.
I took this shot using D200 with Nikkor 80-400, handheld.
http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Asia/India/photo102799.htm