The Himalayan Cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus) or “Oriental Cuckoo” was for long a species of cuckoo found all over Asia. These birds breed in northern Eurasia and the Himalayas, migrating to southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda Islands for the winter, where an all-year resident population also exists.
More recently, it was determined that this “species” constitutes of three distinct lineages:
- Himalayan Cuckoo, Cuculus (saturatus) saturatus
- Oriental Cuckoo proper, Cuculus (saturatus) optatus
- Sunda Cuckoo, Cuculus (saturatus) lepidus
These are usually seen as distinct species nowadays. As the type specimen of the former “Oriental” Cuckoo is a bird of the Himalayan population, the name saturatus applies to the Himalayan Cuckoo if it is considered a species.
