Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo
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| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | ||||||||||||||
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| Missing image Coccyzus-americanus-001.jpg | ||||||||||||||
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| Coccyzus americanus (Linnaeus,, 1758) |
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, is a 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.
Their breeding habitat is deciduous woods from southern Canada to Mexico. They nest in a tree or shrub, usually up to 10 feet above the ground. They occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds.
They migrate to Central America and as far south as northern Argentina. This bird is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
These birds forage in dense shrubs and trees, also may catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, especially tent caterpillars and cicadas, but also some lizards, eggs of other birds and berries.
This bird has a number of calls; the most common is a rapid ka ka ka ka ka kow kow kow.