Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A common, but slow-moving and secretive denizen of woodlands, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo eats large quantities of hairy caterpillars. Its loud call is heard far more frequently than the bird is actually seen.

Description

• Slender, medium-sized bird.
• Long tail with large white spots along edges.
• Dull brown back.
• Underside whitish.
• Bill black above, with yellow lower mandible.
• Rufous in wings.

• Size: 26-30 cm (10-12 in)
• Wingspan: 38-43 cm (15-17 in)
• Weight: 55-65 g (1.94-2.29 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes similar in plumage, but females average slightly larger.

Sound

Song a throaty "ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, kow, kowp, kowp, kowp, kowp." Also makes single coos.

Conservation Status

Common in southeastern United States, but populations declining throughout range. Rare in West and declining. Gone from some areas. Listed as endangered in California where development is disrupting the riparian woodlands in which it lives.

Other Names

Coulicou à bec jaune (French)
Cuclillo pico amarillo, Platero piquiamarillo (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• Like the Black-billed Cuckoo, the young Yellow-billed Cuckoo develops incredibly quickly. The entire period from egg laying to fledgling leaving the nest lasts only 17 days. On day six or seven after hatching, the feathers of the young burst out of their sheaths, allowing the nestling to become fully feathered in two hours.
• Both parents build the nest, incubate the eggs, and brood the nestlings. They incubate and brood equally during the day, but the male takes the night shift. The male brings nest material every time he comes to the nest to take his turn. The female usually takes the offering and works it into the nest.

• 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. It has laid eggs in the nest of at least 11 different birds, most commonly in the nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo, American Robin, Gray Catbird, or Wood Thrush. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo may itself be the inadvertent host for an egg of a Black-billed Cuckoo or Brown-headed Cowbird.

Sources used to construct this page:

Hughes, J. M. 1999. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus). In The Birds of North America, No. 418 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

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