|
Yellow-billed
Cuckoo
Coccyzus americanus
[Published
in 1940: Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum
Bulletin 176: 54-66]
The yellow-billed cuckoo, with its western subspecies, covers
practically all the United States and some of southern Canada. It
is mainly a bird of the Austral Zone, being much commoner in the
Southern States than in the northern portions of its range. In New
England it is not so common as the black-billed cuckoo, though in
some seasons it seems to be a familiar bird. Originally it was
probably a woodland bird, but, like many other species, it has
learned to frequent the haunts of man, where it is not molested
and where it finds an abundant food supply in our shade trees,
orchards, and gardens. Its favorite haunts are still the woodland
thickets, where the tree growth is not too heavy, brush-grown
lanes, shady roadsides, dense thickets along small streams, and
apple orchards in rural districts. In dense, heavy woods it is
seldom seen.
Nesting.--Unlike the European
cuckoo, both of our North American species usually build their own
nests and rear their own young, though they are very poor nest
builders and are often careless about laying in each other's nests
or the nests of other species. Major Bendire (1895) gives the
following very good account of the nesting habits of the
yellow-billed cuckoo:
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is one of the poorest nest builders
known to me, and undoubtedly the slovenly manner in which it
constructs its nest causes the contents of many to be accidentally
destroyed, and this probably accounts to some extent for the many
apparent irregularities in their nesting habits. The nests are
shallow, frail platforms, composed of small rootlets, sticks, or
twigs, few of these being over 4 or 5 inches in length, and among
them a few dry leaves and bits of mosses; rags, etc. are
occasionally mixed in, and the surface is lined with dry blossoms
of the horse-chestnut and other flowering plants, the male aments
or catkins of oaks, willows, etc., tufts of grasses, pine and
spruce needles, and mosses of different kinds. These materials are
loosely placed on the top of the little platform, which is
frequently so small that the extremities of the bird project on
both sides, and there is scarcely any depression to keep the eggs
from rolling out even in only a moderate windstorm, unless one of
the parents sits on the nest, and it is therefore not a rare
occurrence to find broken eggs lying under the trees or bushes in
which the nests are placed. Some of these are so slightly built
that the eggs can be readily seen through the bottom. An average
nest measures about 5 inches in outer diameter by 1 1/2 inches in
depth. They are rarely placed over 20 feet from the ground,
generally from 4 to 8 feet upon horizontal limbs of oak, beech,
gum, dogwood, hawthorn, mulberry, pine, cedar, fir, apple, orange,
fig, and other trees. Thick bushes particularly such as are
overrun with wild grape and other vines as well as hedgerows,
especially those of osage orange, are most frequently selected for
nesting sites. The nests are ordinarily well concealed by the
overhanging and surrounding foliage and, while usually shy and
timid at other times, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is generally
courageous and bold in the defense of its chosen home; the bird on
the nest not infrequently will raise its feathers at right angles
from the body and occasionally even fly at the intruder.
Of five Massachusetts nests, of which I have notes, the lowest
was only 2 feet above the ground in some bushes, and the highest
was 12 feet up in a crotch near the top of an oak sapling in a
swampy thicket near a brook. Owen Durfee mentions in his notes a
nest 5 feet up in a juniper on the edge of a swamp. The others
were at low elevations in thickets along brooks.
A. D. DuBois has sent me his notes on five Illinois nests; one
of these was on the end of a branch of an apple tree, 8 feet from
the ground, near a country schoolhouse; this nest contained 3 eggs
of the cuckoo and a robin's egg. Another was near the end of a
branch of an osage-orange hedge, 10 feet up; still another was in
an isolated clump of willows, between a field and a pasture, 6
feet from the ground.
But cuckoos do not always nest in such low situations; there
are several records of their nesting well up in elm trees. Grant
Foreman (1924) tells of a pair that nested on his place in
Muskogee, Okla., for one or two years, high up in an elm tree; he
says: "The next year after nesting in this inaccessible
place, they built their nest in a little elm tree in the parking,
on a low limb overhanging the curb on a asphalt street where
hundreds of automobiles were passing every day, and here in this
exposed, noisy place they raised a brood of young. This year they
built their nest in a little hackberry tree in the parking along
the side of my lot; but here also the nest was on a low limb
overhanging the curb on a paved street, and the ice wagon stopped
every morning directly under this nest, which was so low down that
the driver might have put his hand in it."
George Finlay Simmons (1915) mentions a nest that he found near
Houston, Tex., on the horizontal limb of a young pine near the
edge of some woods. He says of it: "The nest was a slight
platform about eleven feet up, through which I could see with
ease; it was composed of small pine twigs, about an eighth of an
inch in diameter and averaging six or eight inches long, and was
much more concave than I had expected. This shallow saucer was
neatly, though quite thinly lined with a few pine needles, a small
quantity of Spanish moss and several tiny buds."
George B. Sennett (1879) says that in the Lower Rio Grande
region of Texas "ebony trees near the ranch, mesquites among
the cactuses, thorny bushes in open chaparral, and open woodland,
were favored breeding places."
Wright and Harper (1913) found a well-made nest in Okefinokee
Swamp, in a tupelo tree at the margin of the Suwannee. "It
was placed in a cluster of mistletoe on a horizontal branch four
feet above the water, and consisted of sticks interwoven with
Spanish 'moss' (Tillandsia usneoides)."
Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1896) gives the measurements of four
nests; the average height of the nests was 4 inches, and the
greatest outside diameters averaged 7.63 by 6.25.
Both species of North American cuckoos often lay their eggs in
each other's nests. The eggs of the yellow-billed cuckoo have been
found several times in nests of the robin and catbird. H. P.
Attwater (1892) writes: "In 1884 I found a Dickcissel's nest
which contained five eggs and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo's egg. The
next year some boys brought me three Black-throated Sparrow's eggs
and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo's, from the same field, which they
said they found all together in one nest." J. L. Davison
(1887) says: "I also found a nest of Merula migratoria,
taken possession of by Coccyzus americanus before it
was finished, which was filled nearly full of rootlets; and in
this condition the robin laid one egg and the Cuckoo laid two and
commenced incubation, when a Mourning Dove (Zenaidura macroura)
also occupied it and laid two eggs and commenced incubation with
the Cuckoo. I found both birds on the nest at the same time, when
I secured nest and eggs. The eggs of the Robin and Cuckoo were
slightly incubated; those of the Mourning Dove were fresh."
Bendire (1895) adds the wood thrush, cedar waxwing, and
cardinal to the list of birds that have been imposed upon, and
says: "Such instances appear to be much rarer, however, than
those in which they interlay with each other, and the majority of
these may well be due to accident, their own nest having possibly
been capsized, and necessity compelled the bird to deposit its egg
elsewhere. Such instances do occur at times with species that
cannot possibly be charged with parasitic tendencies."
Marcia B. Clay (1929) thus describes the cuckoo's method of
gathering twigs for her nest:
Flying into an adjacent apple tree containing a considerable
quantity of dead material, the Cuckoo landed on a limb, selected a
dead twig, and grasping it in her bill bent it back and forth
until it snapped from the limb, whereupon she flew with it to her
nesting site in the next tree, arranged this twig and quickly
returned for another. As she tugged at a stubborn twig, her back
was arched and her long tail curved under or waved about. If a
twig resisted too well her attack, the bird desisted at once and
tried another. Always she worked rapidly with great energy,
attacking a twig as soon as she landed in the tree, never carrying
more than one twig at a time, holding it squarely at right angles
to her bill and flying rapidly with long tail streaming.
The Cuckoo's concentration in the work, coupled with her
indifference to observers, was remarkable. Not once did she
descend to the ground for material. Not once did she gather
material in the tree in which her nest was located. With two
exceptions the twigs were all gathered from the same tree. Working
thus off and on for an hour or two at a time, the bird completed
the nest. The third night the Cuckoo was sitting on the nest at
dusk, but after two days she deserted.
Eggs.--The yellow-billed cuckoo lays
ordinarily three or four eggs, sometimes only one and rarely five;
as many as six, seven, or even eight eggs have been found in a
nest, but these larger numbers may be the product of more than one
female. The eggs vary in shape from elliptical-oval to oval,
oftener nearer the former, and about equally rounded at both ends.
The shell is smooth, but without gloss. Bendire (1895) says that
the "color varies from a uniform Nile blue to pale greenish
blue when fresh, fading out in time to a pale greenish
yellow." Eggs that I have examined in collections vary in
color from "pale glaucous green" to "pale flourite
green."
The measurements of 53 eggs average 30.4 by 23 millimeters; the
eggs showing the four extremes measure 34.64 by 23.11,
33.53 by 25.40, 27.43 by 22.86, and 29.21 by 20.83
millimeters.
Young.--The period of incubation
is said to be about 14 days; it is shared to some extent by both
sexes, but is probably performed mainly by the female. The eggs
are sometimes laid on succeeding days, but oftener at more or less
infrequent intervals, and young of different ages are often found
in the nest.
Snyder and Logier (1931) say of a brood of young that they
examined: "The young were quite active when disturbed. They
scrambled about the bush, using the wings and bill for climbing.
One young which was brought to our camp demonstrated a remarkable
reptile-like behaviour. When it was placed on the table and one
reached to pick it up, it erected its somewhat horny plumage and
emitted a buzzing hiss like the sound of bees escaping from a
tunnel of dry grass. This performance was certainly unbirdlike in
all respects."
Francis H. Allen writes to me: "I found a young one in an
open field on the ground. I was attracted to the spot by its loud
rasping cry. It fluttered along when I approached, but it could
not fly from that position, in rather long grass, though wings and
tail were pretty well fledged. When I picked it up, it pecked my
finger angrily. It seemed as fierce as a young hawk, and its
rasping cry was probably calculated to inspire terror in its
enemies. I placed the bird on a bough of a Norway spruce, where it
took a characteristic cuckoo attitude and seemed much more at home
than on the ground."
Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw has sent me some notes on the
weights and development of young yellow-billed cuckoos. One
"well-grown" young was weighed for three days in
succession before it left the nest, at 6 a.m. each morning. It
weighed 28.8 grams the first morning, 31 grams the second, and
only 26 grams on the third, August 6. The interesting point is
that the loss of weight came with the sudden development of the
plumage, of which he says: "When I visited the nest on August
5, at 6 a.m., his feathers resembled the quills of a porcupine,
long and bluish, stretched out over his wings and back. At 7 p.m.,
these quills had all opened, and the bird had taken on the
resemblance of an adult cuckoo. Correspondingly, the following
morning, he had lost 5 grams in weight. He left the nest on August
6."
At another nest a young bird weighed 25 grams on August 25,
27.6 on the 26th, and 32.9 on the 27th, and only 28.9 grams on the
28th; this bird left the nest on August 29, with feathers
unsheathed. He says that during the unsheathing process the young
bird dressed its feathers continually; "the wings, the tail,
the scapulars, the rump, and breast all shared alike, then with
the feet he would work about the head and throat. When hungry he
would pause and call a low cuk-cuk-cuk-cur-r-r-r-rrr. If
the parent did not come soon, these calls increased in number.
While feeding, his wings would vibrate rapidly, and after the
parent left his call was more of contentment, a short curr,
or a cuk-currrrr. When excreting, he simply backed up to
the edge of the nest."
Plumages.--Bendire (1895) says:
"The young when first hatched are repulsive, black, and
greasy-looking creatures, nearly naked, and the sprouting quills
only add to their general ugliness." This is a very good
description, and the young birds do not improve much in appearance
during the period of early growth. The body is well covered with
the long, pointed feather sheaths until the young bird is more
than half grown. But the sheaths burst, the juvenal plumage
appears, and the young bird is well feathered before the time
comes to leave the nest.
Dr. A. H. Cordier (1923) describes this process very well as
follows:
At the end of seven days the young Cuckoo resembled a
porcupine more than a bird. I now cut the limb holding the nest
and brought it to the ground. Within three feet of it I then put
up the umbrella tent that I might at close range observe minutely
the rapid transition of the porcupine-looking object into a fully
feathered, beautiful Rain Crow. . . .
The first picture was made at nine o'clock. . . . This shows
the young by the unhatched egg; the horny, sheathed feathers were
fully two inches long, making the bird look like a porcupine.
About ten-thirty the sheaths began to burst, and with each split a
fully formed feather was liberated. This process took place with
such rapidity that it reminded me of the commotion in a corn
popper or a rapidly blooming flower. All the while I was within
three feet of the bird, and could see every new feather, as it
blossomed, so to speak.
At three p.m., six hours after the first picture was taken,
I made another photograph, showing this same bird in the full
plumage of a Cuckoo, except the long tail.
In this first plumage the young cuckoo looks very much like the
adult, perhaps slightly paler above and with a slight wash of
tawny or pale buff on the throat and breast; but the tail is quite
different, lacking the conspicuous black and white marking so
prominent on the sides of the adult tail; in the young bird the
dark spaces in the tail are not black, but dark gray or lighter
gray, variable in different individuals or in different feathers
in the same individual; the light spaces are not so sharply
defined as in the adult and are grayish white instead of pure
white.
The juvenal body plumage appears to be molted in fall, from
August to October; but the juvenal wings and tail are worn through
the first winter at least; I have not been able to detect this
plumage in spring birds, so I suppose that a more or less complete
molt occurs while the birds are in their winter homes, producing a
practically adult plumage before they return in the spring. Adults
have a complete molt between July and October, and possibly a more
or less complete molt in spring before they arrive here, but
winter specimens to show it are lacking.
Food.--Cuckoos are among the most
useful of our birds, mainly because of their fondness for
caterpillars, which are some of our most injurious insect pests
and which constitute the principal food of these birds during
their seasons of abundance. Edward H. Forbush (1907) writes:
The Cuckoos are of greatest service to the farmer, by reason
of their well-known fondness for caterpillars, particularly the
hairy species. No caterpillars are safe from the Cuckoo. It does
not matter how hairy or spiny they are, or how well they may be
protected by webs. Often the stomach of the Cuckoo will be found
lined with a felted mass of caterpillar hairs, and sometimes its
intestines are pierced by the spines of the noxious caterpillars
that it has swallowed. Wherever caterpillar outbreaks occur we
hear the calls of the Cuckoos. There they stay; there they bring
their newly fledged young; and the number of caterpillars they eat
is incredible. Professor Beal states that two thousand, seven
hundred and seventy-one caterpillars were found in the stomachs of
one hundred and twenty-one Cuckoos--an average of more than
twenty-one each. Dr. Otto Lugger found several hundred small hairy
caterpillars in the stomach of a single bird. The poisonous,
spined caterpillars of the Io moth, the almost equally
disagreeable caterpillars of the brown-tail moth, and the spiny
elm caterpillar, are eaten with avidity.
He says elsewhere (1927):
When, in time, the inside of the bird's stomach becomes so
felted with a mass of hairs and spines that it obstructs
digestion, the bird can shed the entire stomach-lining, meanwhile
growing a new one. . . . Mr. Mosher, a competent observer, watched
a Yellow-billed Cuckoo eat 41 gypsy caterpillars in fifteen
minutes, and later he saw another consume 47 forest tent
caterpillars in six minutes. . . . Dr. Amos W. Butler [1897] says
that he has known these Cuckoos to destroy every tent caterpillar
in a badly infested orchard and tear up all the nests in half a
day. This species frequently feeds on or near the ground, and
there gets an enormous number of locusts and other pests. In
summer and autumn it feeds to some extent on small wild fruits,
such as the raspberry, blackberry and wild grape.
The fall web worm is a destructive pest on certain trees, but
few birds will eat it. Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1902) noted that, on
a Maryland farm, "a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos continually
extracted them from the webs. The destruction of this insect is an
habitual practice with the cuckoo. In a single stomach of the
species examined by Professor Beal there were 325 of the
larvae."
Henry C. Denslow writes to me that he fed many hairy
caterpillars to a cuckoo that he had in captivity, and says:
"Many of these this bird sheared the hairs from by slowly
moving them from end to end through its beak by a side-shifting
motion of the mandibles. The removed hairs collected in a little
bunch and, at the end of the caterpillar, fell to the floor. Most
of the hairs were thus shorn from these caterpillars. Other
caterpillars were swallowed entire, as I gave them to him, hairs
and all."
Walter B. Barrows (1912) says that this cuckoo feeds freely on
elderberries and mulberries and that "large quantities of
beetles and bugs also are consumed, and both species of cuckoo
seem to be very fond of grasshoppers, eating especially such forms
as frequent shrubbery and trees, among these the destructive tree
crickets (Oecanthus). Ten specimens examined by Professor
Aughey, in Nebraska, contained 416 locusts and grasshoppers, and
152 other insects."
Audubon (1842) writes: "In autumn they eat many
grapes, and I have seen them supporting themselves by momentary
motions of their wings opposite a bunch, as if selecting the
ripest, when they would seize it and return to a branch, repeating
their visits in this manner until satiated."
In addition to those mentioned above, yellow-billed cuckoos
have been known to eat many other insects, such as army worms,
ants, wasps, flies, and dragonflies. Several of the earlier
ornithologists accused this cuckoo of eating the eggs of other
small birds and produced some evidence of the bad habit, but some
modern observers seem to think that they do very little, if any,
nest robbing. C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:
This species in company with the former [black-billed
cuckoo] are the terror of other small birds during the nesting
season for they will constantly rob their nests. I have frequently
seen a Cuckoo enter a thicket in which a Robin or a Cat Bird had
built a home and in a moment the air would resound with the shrill
cries of distress given by the parents, causing all the small
birds in the immediate vicinity to rush to the spot and as each
joins in the outcry, the noise produced is apparently enough to
frighten away a bolder bird than a Cuckoo.
But in spite of all this din, the glossy thief nearly always
succeeds in accomplishing his purpose and emerges from the
thicket, carrying an egg impaled on his beak. He does not always
escape unscathed, however, for he is pursued by a motley crowd
consisting of Robins, Cat Birds, Thrushes, Warblers, etc. that
follow him closely, harassing him on all sides, and some of the
more courageous will even assault him with blows from their beaks
so that he frequently leaves some of his feathers floating in the
wind behind him. As the long and broad tail of the Cuckoo is a
prominent object and as it is also a portion of the bird which its
enemies can seize with comparative safety to themselves, this
member often suffers in these forays, in so much, that by the
middle of summer, it is quite difficult to find a Cuckoo of either
species which has a full complement of tail feathers.
On the other hand, Major Bendire (1895) says: "I am aware
that this species has been accused of destroying the eggs and even
of eating the young of smaller birds, but I am strongly inclined
to believe that is accusation is unjust, and in my opinion
requires more substantial confirmation. I have never yet had any
reason to suspect their robbing smaller birds' nests, and the very
fact that they live in apparent harmony with such neighbors, who
do not protest against their presence, as they are in the habit of
doing should a Blue Jay, Grackle, or Crow come too close to their
nests, seems to confirm this view."
But then he goes on to quote from a letter from William
Brewster, who says: "While I have never seen either of
our Cuckoos destroy the eggs of other birds, nevertheless, I think
they do it occasionally. One of my reasons for this belief is that
many of our small birds, Warblers, Sparrows, etc., show great
anxiety whenever the Cuckoos approach their nests, and they pursue
and peck at them when they take wing, behaving toward them, in
fact, exactly as they do toward the Crows, Jays, and Grackles,
which we know eat eggs whenever they can get a chance. My
other reason is that one of my friends once shot a Cuckoo (C.
americanus, I think it was) whose bill was smeared all over
with the fresh yolk of an egg."
Yellow-billed cuckoos sometimes eat tree frogs and other small
frogs, and, in the Southern States, an occasional small lizard.
Marcia B. Clay (1929) relates the following incident: "For an
hour a Cuckoo searched about the dead under limbs of a huge
untrimmed apple tree, peering and gliding noiselessly around and
around. At last, after long and patient search, it dashed to the
ground and began to walk directly toward me through the scant
grass and weeds, and only then did I see a frog trying to slip
away unseen. The bird followed the frog a rod, pecking its victim
and gloating softly Cuk, Cuk. Having vanquished its prey,
the Cuckoo deftly gathered it into its bill and flew away, the
frog's legs sticking out out stiff and straight together, exactly
like the dead twigs which the Cuckoo carries to its nest."
Behavior.--Mr. Forbush (1927) has
described the quiet, retiring behavior of the yellow-billed cuckoo
very well as follows:
The cuckoo is a graceful, elegant bird, calm and
unperturbed; it slips quietly and rather furtively through its
favorite tangles and flies easily from tree to tree in the
orchard, keeping for the most part under protection of the leaves
, which furnish excellent cover for its bronzy, upper plumage,
while the shadows of the foliage tend to conceal the whiteness of
its under parts. It has a way also of keeping its back with its
greenish satiny reflections toward the intruder in its solitudes,
and while holding an attitude of readiness for flight it sits
motionless, and its plumage so blends with its leafy environment
that it does not ordinarily catch the eye. In the meantime it
turns its head and regards the disturber with a cool, reserved,
direct gaze, looking back over its shoulder, apparently unafraid
and giving no indication of nervousness or even undue curiosity;
but if the observer approaches too closely, the elegant bird slips
quietly away, vanishing into some leafy, cool retreat where it may
enjoy the silence and solitude, dear to the woodland recluse.
The flight of the cuckoo is rather swift, easy and graceful,
exceedingly direct and horizontal, but turning frequently from
side to side as it threads its way through the branches of the
trees, giving occasional glimpses of its white under parts and the
telltale black-and-white markings in its tail; it is stream-lined
to perfection and glides noiselessly through the air with its long
tail streaming out behind. It is very quiet in its movements in
its shady retreats; it seldom perches in a conspicuous place but
sits motionless for long periods in the dense foliage, watching,
or moves about stealthily in search of its prey. It might easily
be overlooked, were it not for its characteristic notes, which
lead the observer to look for it.
About its nest it is rather shy, while incubating on its eggs,
slipping away cautiously when approached, but when there are young
in the nest its behavior is quite different. It then becomes quite
solicitous and will often remain on the nest until almost touched,
and then perhaps throw itself down to the ground, fluttering and
tumbling along, feigning lameness, after the manner of many
ground-nesting birds, uttering loud, guttural cries of distress.
Voice.--We hear the voice of the
cuckoo much oftener than we see the bird; the well-known sound
comes to us, like a wandering voice, from the depths of some shady
retreat, but we cannot see the hidden author. We can recognize it
easily as the voice of a cuckoo, but it is not always so easy to
identify the species by its notes, though some keen observers
claim that they can do so. Certain songs are characteristic of
each of the two species, but both have a great variety of notes
and many notes that are much alike in both. The notes of the
yellow-billed cuckoo may be a trifle harsher and a little louder,
but they are not always recognizable. The characteristic note of
the yellow-billed cuckoo is well described by Charles J. Spiker
(1935) as follows: "What may be considered the song of this
species is a series of rapid, wooden-sounding syllables resembling
the following: Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow;
the kuks being given rapidly, and the ceaows more
deliberately and with longer intervals."
Bendire (1895) writes:
One of their commonest notes is a low "noo-coo-coo-coo";
another sounds more like "cow-cow-cow" or "kow-kow-kow,"
several times repeated; others resemble the syllables of "ough,
ough, ough," slowly uttered; some remind me of the "kloop-kloop"
of the Bittern; occasionally a note something like the "kiuh-kiuh-kiuh"
of the Flicker is also uttered; a low sharp "tou-wity-whit"
and "hweet hwee" is also heard during the nesting
season. Though ordinarily not what might be called a social bird,
I have sometimes during the mating season seen as many as eight in
the same tree, and on such occasions they indulge in quite a
number of calls, and if the listener can only keep still long
enough he has an excellent opportunity to hear a regular Cuckoo
concert.
Various other interpretations of the different notes have been
given by other writers, but the above quotations cover fairly well
the ordinary variations. The song, as given by Mr. Spiker above,
is sometimes more prolonged by lengthening the series of kuks,
with increasing speed of utterance and adding to the series of ceaows,
with slowly decreasing speed. I believe that the black-billed
cuckoo never gives this prolonged song, accelerated during the
fist half and retarded during the last half; its song is given in
more even time, and is generally shorter. The song of the
yellow-billed cuckoo is often heard during the night, and its
notes are often uttered while flying.
Field marks.--A cuckoo may be
easily recognized as a cuckoo by its size, shape, and color--a
long, slender bird, longer than a robin, with a long tail,
olive-brown above and white below; but the two species look very
much alike unless the distinctive markings can be clearly seen.
The yellow lower mandible of this species can be seen only at
short range. But the rufous in the wing feathers is evident in
flight, and the lateral tail feathers are conspicuously black,
with large terminal white areas clearly defined. At very close
range, the yellow eyelids of this species may be seen.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo*
Coccyzus americanus
*Original Source: Bent,
Arthur Cleveland. 1940. Smithsonian Institution United
States National Museum Bulletin 176: 54-66. United States
Government Printing Office
Return
to FAMILIAR BIRDS Home Page
Return to
beginning of document
|
