ODNR Division of Wildlife - A to Z Species Guide - Yellow-billed Cuckoo

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo


Photo by Richard Day/Daybreak Imagery		 This cuckoo has a very distinct call that carries great distances. Like many birds, they are more easily heard than seen.
 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus americanus

At-a-Glance

• Peak Breeding Activity: May

• Incubation: 9-11 days

• Clutch Size: 3-4 eggs

• Young Fledge: 7-8 days after hatching

• Typical Foods: insects (caterpillars, grasshoppers, crickets)
Description
This cuckoo is brown above and white below, with a bit of rufous in the wings. The bill is slightly curved, with a yellow lower mandible.

Habitat and Habits
The yellow-billed cuckoo inhabits all manner of woodlots, but especially scruffy thickets, reverting clearcuts, orchards, and black locust groves in reclaimed strip mines.

Reproduction and Care of the Young
Nests are built in bushes or small saplings. Both parents incubate the eggs, brood and feed the chicks.