Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanus

The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo breeds mostly in the Great Plains and eastward. They prefer dense deciduous woods. Scientists believe that the entire population winters in South America. The population of these birds has declined by half since 1966. The eastern members of this species have declined in numbers, though not as dramatically as those in the west, where the USF&W Service has declared them as threatened, and has disappeared entirely from BC (Canada), Washington and Oregon.

The only meeting with these birds I’ve had were in southern Arizona and south Texas. But I hold out hope that I’ll achieve more encounters in the future.