Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanusOrder: CUCULIFORMESFamily: Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)

Breeding Location:

Forest edge, Grassland with scattered trees, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Uncommon to common

Egg Color:

Light blue green to light yellow green

Number of Eggs:

1 - 5

Incubation Days:

9 - 11

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Small sticks with lining of leaves, grasses, mosses, bits of fabric, and catkins from oaks and willow trees.

Migration:

Migratory

Overview

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.

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Readily Eats

Suet

Vocalization

Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Song is a rapid, harsh, rattling "ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-kow-kow-kowp, kowp, kowp, kowp", slowing down at the end.

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.

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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

● 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