Yellow-billed Cuckoo

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.

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.

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. Currently, it is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Yellow-billed Cuckoo have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.