Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS

THE CUCKOOS

American Cuckoos

Whereas in the preceding genera the nostrils are round, in the American Cuckoos (Coccyzus) they are oval, in addition to which the plumage is plain brownish gray or grayish brown above, often with a faint bronzy luster, and white, bully, or ochraceous below. The dozen or more species range from northern temperate North America through Central America and the West Indies to Patagonia, North America laying claim to five forms. Of these the Yellow-billed and Black-billed species (C. americanus and C. ery-throphthalmus) are common birds throughout most of eastern North America, and are distinguished, as may be presumed from their vernacular names, by the color of the bill.

They are rather shy birds, frequenting open woodland, but often appearing in orchard and shade trees about human habitations, where, as Coues says of the Yellow-billed bird,”they pass from one tree to another stealthily, with rapid, gliding, noiseless flight, and often rest motionless as statues for a long time, especially when crying out, or when they have detected a suspicious object.

They court the seclusion of the thickest foliage,”and are much more frequently heard than seen. Their notes, uttered at intervals during the day and occasionally at night, are quite varied but extremely difficult to describe, one of the commonest being low noo-coo-coo-coo, and another that sounds like cow-cow-cow or kow-kow-kow. The calls are supposed by many to be indicative of the approach of rain, whence the birds are often called Rain Crows or Rain Doves. Mr. Brewster thinks it possible to distinguish between the notes of the two species, those of the Black-billed species being softer, but the late Major Bendire did not think it could be done.

In any event the habits of the two are very similar and the notes so close that none but an expert could presume to separate them. While both species build their own nest, this being a very frail structure of twigs, usually placed in low trees or vines, there is some evidence to show the parasitism so common in Old World forms is at least latent and now and then crops out, for eggs of the Yellow-billed have been found in the nest of the Black-billed form, and vice versa, as well as in nests of other birds, but it is by no means the rule.

The eggs, which are pale greenish blue in color, number from two or three to five, rarely more, and are usually deposited at intervals of several days, on which account it is not rare to find fresh eggs in the same nest with partially incubated eggs or young in various stages of growth. Both species are of great economic value, as their food consists almost entirely of caterpillars, especially those making a nest or”tent,”and vast numbers are destroyed, as many as forty to seventy having been taken from the stomach of a single bird.

In western North America, from Colorado to Oregon, southward over the tablelands of Mexico, the place is occupied by the California Cuckoo (C. a. occidentalis), a larger, stouter-billed form, and in Florida there are two forms, — Maynard's Cuckoo (C. maynardi) and the Mangrove Cuckoo (C. minor), the latter ranging nearly throughout the Antilles, Central America, and northern South America. The more strictly South American forms do not differ greatly in appearance, habits, notes, etc., from those already described.

 

 

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