Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Learn to identify the Yellow-billed Cuckoo by ear. Master the "ka-ka-ka-kow-kow-kow-kowp" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Yellow-billed Cuckoo sounds like
A hollow, wooden ka-and-kowlp series that stays fairly measured and slows toward the end. Birds may answer thunder or other loud noises with it.
How to tell it apart
Where you'll hear it
Long-distance migrant. Breeds across the eastern United States, parts of southern Canada, and locally in the Southwest; winters from Colombia south through the Amazon Basin to northern Argentina.
Deciduous woodlands, riparian corridors, overgrown thickets, and edges with dense shrubs—especially near water and where tent caterpillars are abundant.
Arrives late May–June, with numbers peaking during midsummer breeding; begins southbound migration by early September. Most have left the U.S. by October.
How to recognize it by sight
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a slender, long-tailed woodland bird with warm brown upperparts, clean white underparts, and a graceful, slightly decurved bill whose lower mandible is bright yellow. Often heard more than seen, it prowls leafy branches in search of caterpillars and other large insects, sitting motionless for long periods before making short, agile sallies among the foliage.
Similar species
Black-billed Cuckoo
Entire bill black, lacks yellow lower mandible.
Mangrove Cuckoo
Broad black mask through eye.
Common Nighthawk (in flight)
Pointed wings with bold white bar.