The chick evicts bona fide residents of the parasitized nest, thus becoming the sole occupant.

Under normal circumstances, this would reduce the provisioning rate as the foster parents see only one gape.

To counteract this, the Hodgson's hawk-cuckoo displays gape-coloured patches of skin under its wing to simulate additional gapes; the strategy appears to increase the provisioning rate.

The Philippine hawk-cuckoo is now commonly treated as a separate species, H. pectoralis.

The common name commemorates the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson.