Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanus

Also known as Raincrows, Yellow-billed Cuckoos are forest and open woodland birds that feed mainly on large caterpillars. They become especially abundant during years of caterpillar outbreaks, resulting in large year-to-year fluctuations in population size (Kaufman 1996). In addition to consuming caterpillars in large quantities, they eat fruit, frogs, lizards and berries (Ehrlich et al. 1988).

Code Frequency

Yellow-billed Cuckoos are easy to detect because of their vocalizations. Confirming breeding is sometimes difficult, perhaps because foliage is too dense for nests to be found. Sixty-four percent of all confirmed records resulted from the observation of food being carried to young.

Distribution

This species was documented in about 86 percent of the blocks in the Big Rivers, Mississippi Lowlands, Osage Plains and Ozark natural divisions. Due primarily to the 68 percent frequency reported in the Eastern Glaciated Plains Natural Section, fewer blocks (78 percent) were reported in the Glaciated Plains Natural Division.

Average Number of Yellow-billed Cuckoos / 100 stops

Most noticeable was a total absence of reports from several blocks in northeastern Missouri. Whether this distributional pattern was due to shifts in caterpillar abundance is unknown.

Abundance

Although Yellow-billed Cuckoos were found statewide, the greatest abundance was recorded in the Ozark Natural Division, with lowest abundance in the Glaciated Plains. This pattern may relate to prey abundance during the Atlas Project.

Phenology

Yellow-billed Cuckoos raise one or, possibly, two broods per season (Ehrlich et al. 1988). The extended breeding season discovered by the Atlas Project could relate to differences in breeding among individuals as determined by food abundance or it may represent multiple broods.

Notes

Like their Old World counterparts, Yellow-billed Cuckoos occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds although they also build their own nests and raise their young. Widmann (1907) listed the Black-billed Cuckoo, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Cardinal and Rose-breasted Grosbeak as repeated hosts, although none of these species has been observed to successfully raise Yellow-billed Cuckoos.

Breeding Evidence

Reported in 995 (82.4%) of 1,207 blocks

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