Nature Journal
with Photos

          
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Identification Tips
(Credit: U. S. Geological Survey)
 
General Information
- 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.

 
 
Return to Yellow-billed Cuckoo page