While playing golf last week I was treated to a nice long look at a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Sometimes my best birding happens when I’m not even trying. What a beautiful and interesting bird. I’ve seen them before but never much more than a glimpse as this species stays very well concealed in tree tops and heavily vegetated areas.
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a common summer resident in TN arriving from Central and South America in April and departing by mid-October. They are seen, but more often heard, in deciduous wooded areas. Large caterpillars are its preferred food. The tent caterpillar may be its favorite. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a long slender songbird about 12” in length. They are tan to gray above and white below with rusty brown wing edges, and has bold white spots on the underside of its tail. The bill is long and decurved (curves downward), the lower mandible is yellow.
While many of you may never see this bird you may be hearing it on a daily basis and not even know it. To describe the call is a bit difficult. It is a rapid throaty kind of knocking sound. Click here to listen to a sound clip on allaboutbirds.org