Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus americanus		June 6, 2010
 


Similiar in size to a brown thrasher (or a stretch American robin), yellow-billed cuckoos arrive in State College in late spring - when there is a good supply of hairy caterpillars (and tent caterpillars). By that time, the trees are in their glory, and a cuckoo photo means a lucky shot between leaves.
 
Yellow-billed cuckoo
 
  The most noticeable characteristic of a yellow-billed cuckoo is its yellow (and hooked) bill.
 
Yellow-billed cuckoo fluffed
 
  Like black-billed cuckoos, the yellow-billed cuckoos build their own nests; however, they're also opportunistic and occasionally leave their eggs in the nests of other birds.

Photo note: I used a Pentax *ist D, with the SMC 1000mm reflex lens, for these photos, which were taken on May 23, 2008. (Sometimes I think the "answer" is a newer camera body with more features; other times I ask myself, I took these with a six-meg camera body? Time and place can be more important than additional capacity. Of course, having a long lens helps.)



My Pennsylvania bird list

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