Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus americanus
Summary 5
The yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is a cuckoo. Common folk-names for this bird in the southern United States are rain crow and storm crow. These likely refer to the bird's habit of calling on hot days, often presaging rain or thunderstorms.
Description 6
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.
Measurements:
Habitat and range 6
Their breeding habitat is deciduous woods from southern Canada to Mexico and the Caribbean. They migrate to Central America, and as far south as northern Argentina. This bird is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Carlos Sanchez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carlos Sanchez
- (c) Lee Elliott, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by Lee Elliott
- (c) cyric, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by cyric
- (c) Syd Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/49002669@N06/7332048650
- Adapted by Desmon M Dunn from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccyzus_americanus
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-billed_cuckoo
