Piaya

The genus contains three species:^[5]

Image	Common name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Common squirrel cuckoo	Piaya cayana
	Mexican squirrel cuckoo	Piaya mexicana	Pacific slope of Mexico (Sinaloa to Isthmus of Tehuántepec)
	Black-bellied cuckoo	Piaya melanogaster

The little cuckoo has been found to be closer to some species traditionally placed in Coccyzus or Micrococcyx. These are now again separated in Coccycua.

These birds are birds with relatively slender bodies, long tails and strong legs. The black-bellied cuckoo is essentially restricted to rainforest, but the more widespread squirrel cuckoo also occurs in other forest types, woodlands or mangroves.

Piaya cuckoos, unlike many Old World species, are not brood parasites; they build their own nests in trees and lay two eggs. Parasitic cuckoos lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts, but the non-parasitic Piaya species, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs.

These are vocal species with persistent and loud calls. They feed on large insects such as cicadas, wasps and caterpillars (including those with stinging hairs or spines which are distasteful to many birds). Squirrel and black-bellied cuckoos are large and powerful species, and occasionally take vertebrate prey such as small lizards.