Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanusOrder: CUCULIFORMESFamily: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)

General

Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Medium-sized cuckoo with gray-brown upperparts and white underparts. Eye-rings are pale yellow. Bill is mostly yellow. Wings are gray-brown with rufous primaries. Tail is long and has white-spotted black edges. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Breeds from central California, Minnesota, and southern New Brunswick southward. Spends winters in South America. Preferred habitats include moist thickets, willows, overgrown pastures, and orchards.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"ka-ka-ka-ka-kow-kow-kow-kow" , "kowp-kowp-kowp"

Interesting Facts

Although the Yellow-billed Cuckoo usually raises its own young, occasionally it will lay its egg in the nest of another cuckoo, or even that of a different species.

On day six or seven after hatching, the feathers of the young emerge from their sheaths, allowing the nestling to become fully feathered in two hours.

A group of cuckoos are collectively known as a "cooch" and an "asylum" of cuckoos.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Medium cuckoo, gray-brown upperparts and white underparts. Bill is mostly yellow. Wings are gray-brown with rufous primaries. Tail is long and has white-spotted black edges. Gray legs, feet. Feeds primarily on hairy caterpillars, also insects, larvae, small fruits, and berries.

● Song: "ka-ka-ka-ka-kow-kow-kow-kow" , "kowp-kowp-kowp"

● Foraging & Feeding: Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Mainly feeds on hairy caterpillars and cicadas; also eats other insects, bird eggs, snails, small vertebrates such as frogs and lizards, berries, and some fruits; forages in trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Yellow-billed Cuckoo: One to five light blue green to yellow green eggs are laid in a flimsy saucer of twigs built in a bush or small sapling. Incubation ranges from 9 to 11 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Black-billed Cuckoo has red eye-ring, black bill, smaller tail spots, and lacks cinnamon-brown primaries. Mangrove Cuckoo has black mask, buff breast, larger white tail spots, and lacks cinnamon-brown primaries.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with steady quick wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Breeds from central California, Minnesota, and southern New Brunswick southward. Spends winters in South America. Preferred habitats include moist thickets, willows, overgrown pastures, and orchards.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationUncommon to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.6 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America