Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Adults have a long tail, brown above and black-and-white below, and a black curved bill with yellow especially on the lower mandible. The head and upper parts are brown and the underparts are white. There is a yellow ring around the eye. It shows cinnamon on the wings in flight. Juveniles are similar, but the black on the undertail is replaced by gray.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, is a cuckoo. Common folk-names for this bird in the southern United States are Rain Crow and Storm Crow. These likely refer to the bird's habit of calling on hot days, often presaging thunderstorms. Description - Comparison of Black-billed Cuckoo and Yellow-billed Cuckoo Adults have a long tail, brown above and black-and-white below, and a black curved bill with yellow especially on the lower mandible. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo eats large quantities of hairy caterpillars. Its loud call is heard far more frequently than the bird is actually seen. BIGPOCKETS. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoos occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds (most often the closely related Black-billed Cuckoo), but they are not obligate brood parasites of other birds as is the Common Cuckoo of Eurasia. References - * BirdLife International (2004). Coccyzus americanus. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. More

The California Yellow-billed Cuckoo breeds in scattered locations where suitable habitat is available throughout California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, extreme western Texas, and possibly Nevada and western Colorado (Gaines and Laymon 1984). In Mexico it breeds south to the Cape region of Baja California, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua (AOU 1957). Historically, it has bred north to southern British Columbia (AOU 1957). MANAGEMENT STATUS: The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is listed as a California Endangered Species and a U.S. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (both found on LI). About 1/3 of all cuckoos are considered to be More

Photo - Yellow-billed cuckoo feeding chicks in nest (USFWS). Map of Oregon showing distribution of Yellow-billed cuckoo STATUS: CANDIDATE Yellow-billed cuckoo potentially occurs in these Oregon counties: Deschutes, Harney, Malheur (Map may reflect historical as well as recent sightings) - The yellow-billed cuckoo in the western United States was accorded candidate status in July 2001. An annual review was conducted in December 2007. More

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. More

Yellow-billed cuckoos reach a length of 10.5 to 12.5 inches (26 to 32 cm), with a wingspan of 17 inches (43 cm). Their lower mandible (bill) is yellow, and they have a black upper bill that curves slightly downward. Head, neck, back and upper wings are brown, with a white chin, breast and belly. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Black-billed Cuckoo breed in North America and fly across the Caribbean Sea, a non-stop flight of 4000 km. Other long migration flights include the Lesser Cuckoo, which flies from India to Kenya across the Indian Ocean (3000 km) and the Common Cuckoos of Europe which fly non-stop over the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert on their voyage to southern Africa. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo breeding range mapsouthern regions of Quebec and Ontario. Once common in portions of the western United States, now restricted to very localized areas in all western states. Winter: Southern Central America and northern South America south to eastern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. Also found in Trinidad and Tobago; rare in West Indies. coe_yebcuc. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo are a plain grayish-brown. Consistent with its common name, the stout, somewhat curved bill is primarily yellow (the upper mandible is mostly black, with some yellow, while the lower mandible is yellow in its entirety). The boldly white and black patterned outer tail feathers, or rectrices, which from underneath give the appearance of 6 large white spots, can generally be observed during perching and in flight. The rufous primary feathers of this cuckoo are largely only visible in flight. More

Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo at the Kern River Preserve Photo courtesy Murrelet Halterman. More

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo has a tremendous range reaching up to roughly 5.3 million square kilometers. This bird can be found in many Carribean and Central American locations as well as throughout all of North America. The species also has vagrant populations in parts of Europe, Northern Africa and the UK as well. This bird appers most often in forests, savanna, shrublands and even in deforested locations. The global population of this bird is estimated to be around 9.2 million individual birds. More

I found the Yellow-billed Cuckoo plentiful and breeding in the Texas; and it is met with, on the other hand, in Nova Scotia, and even in Labrador, where I saw a few. It has been observed on the Columbia river by Mr. TOWNSEND. No mention is made of it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana. Many spend the winter in the most southern portions of the Floridas. More

Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a riparian species that has experienced significant declines in recent decades, particularly in the western United States. In New Mexico, the species is found in riparian zones with dense understory vegetation, most commonly in the south and along major drainages. It is vulnerable to loss, fragmentation, and degradation of riparian habitat, and to broad-scale clearing of exotic vegetation along the Pecos River where nesting in salt cedar is common. More

The yellow-billed cuckoo is sometimes called the raincrow because its song is often heard just before thunderstorms or summer showers. But this rare bird raises its voice less and less often in eastern North America and has been entirely eradicated from most of its riparian habitat west of the Continental Divide. Currently, 95 percent of western yellow-billed cuckoos have been extirpated due to logging, water diversion, and suburban sprawl. As few as 40 breeding pairs may be all that remain in California. More

The yellow-billed cuckoo has a stout yellow curved bill. Their feet have two forward facing toes and two backward facing toes. Nesting: High above ground in a tree, vine or shrub, with a preference for wild overgrown grape vines. The nest itself is usually a small, frail, shallow platform of grass and sticks. On average, a brood will consist of 3 - 4 eggs, which are not all laid at the same time. More

the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo has had the astonishingly rapid and sad experience of becoming one of the rarest. At the turn of the twentieth century, Sacramento residents considered them common. Their observations were not unusual when we consider there were an estimated 70,000 breeding pairs around California streams at that time. Now, an estimated 30-50 breeding pairs comprise the entire California population (The Nature Conservancy of California 2002). More