Carol DM
- Yellow-billed Cuckoos are among the few bird species able to eat hairy caterpillars. In the East they eat large numbers of tent caterpillars—as many as 100 in one sitting.
- Yellow-Billed Cuckoos don’t lay their eggs all at once: the period between one egg to the next can stretch to as long as five days. This “asynchronous” egg laying means the oldest chick can be close to leaving the nest when the youngest is just hatching. When food is in short supply the male may remove the youngest bird from the nest, though unlike their relative the Greater Roadrunner, they don’t feed them to the older siblings.
- If threatened, nesting pairs of Yellow-billed Cuckoos will react with a “distraction display” designed to lure potential predators away from the nest site. While one bird remains on the nest, the other hops to a visible perch, opening its wings and pumping its tail up and down. In open nesting areas, a bird flushed from the nest flutters away in a slow, wavering flight, flashing its rufous wing patches and white tail spots.
Such amazing birds. This is the next bird in my series, Birds of the Alphabet. I chose this one mainly for the name. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I can relate to this bird. 🙂
They are common in Texas, Louisiana and the States of the lower Mississippi River. I will keep looking. Never seen one in my are but would welcome them for sure.
Photo courtesy of featheredtailstories.org
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Ever seen this Cuckoo bird in your world?
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Yes
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No
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Such amazing birds, I haven’t seen them personally but I think I have heard their song around.
I thought so as well. I have never seen one either.
i have heard their song, but honestly never seen them outside of a zoo.
Same here, I just love the cuckoo name! That seems to be me lately! 🙂
i know that feel all too well!!!
or in english – feeling, sorry
So much going on all around me.
oh to live in interesting times
Very interesting information. This bird can also be seen and heard in our country.
That is good to know. I only see them in zoos here.
I have never seen this type of cuckoo coming out of a clock.
I have not either! My aunt had a cuckoo clock, so loud it made me cuckoo. 🙂