Yellow-billed cuckoo
Coccyzus americanus
Identification Tips:
- Sexes similar
- Slender, long-tailed bird
- Yellow orbital ring
- Cinnamon inner webs to primaries, often visible at rest
- Brown head, nape, back, and upperwings
- White chin, breast, and belly
- Brown uppertail has black outer tail feathers with white tips
Adult:
- Black bill with yellow basal half of lower mandible
- Tail feathers with extensive pale tips below
Juvenile:
- Tail feathers have significantly smaller pale tips below
- Occasionally with entirely black bill
Similar species:
Adult Black-billed Cuckoo has red orbital ring, black bill, smaller tail
spots, and lacks cinnamon primaries. Juvenile Black-billed Cuckoo can be
similar to juvenile Yellow-billed Cuckoo but never shares the cinnamon
primaries of the Yellow-billed. Mangrove Cuckoo has black mask, buff breast,
larger white tail spots below and lacks cinnamon primaries.