The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
The yellow-billed cuckoo. Yep, that’s its real name. Cuckoo! If you look closely, you can see the yellow at the base of the bill. Yellow-billed cuckoos are slender, long-tailed birds with a white belly and white spots on the underside of the tail. They are uncommon in woodlands. Their breeding range includes the states east of the Rockies. We have them in the summer and fall. They spend the winter in South America.
There are two other cuckoos, the black-billed cuckoo and the mangrove cuckoo. The black-billed cuckoo is found farther north. The mangrove cuckoo is in south Florida.
European Cuckoo
Our cuckoo is nothing like the European cuckoo, the one we see in cuckoo clocks brought over from Europe. They are our own American version. The European cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds’ nests and doesn’t raise the young, just like our cowbird. Both are examples of what is called brood or nest parasitism. Our cuckoo is a responsible parent and raises its own young.
What do cuckoos eat?
It loves to eat caterpillars, and whenever the trees are full of fall webworms, cuckoos are there to gobble them up. They can eat as many as a hundred in a meal. The cuckoo in the photo was eating webworms. In fact, the dark spot on its lower belly was a webworm that tried to hide in the feathers. Didn’t work, though. The cuckoo got it.
Cuckoo behavior
Cuckoos are shy birds and are more often heard than seen. A common name for them is “rain crow” because they often call on hot days before a rainstorm. The call is a distinctive series of “ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-kwo–kwo–kwolp—kwolp—kwolp—kwolp” syllables that get slower toward the end.
Our daughter’s wedding was held in a little grove of trees by the pond. Our son, a jazz musician, played the music on his acoustic guitar. His music was accompanied by cuckoo calls. Everyone thought it was planned. Nope, just a coincidence, but a nice touch.
The cuckoo’s habitat is open woodlands, so try to listen for them the next time you go for a walk in the woods. If you happen to see one, you are indeed fortunate.
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