Black-Billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus erythropthalmus
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
51 g
About This Species
This is a secretive woodland bird of eastern North America, more often heard than seen as it sits motionless in dense foliage; listen for its slow, rhythmic 'cu-cu-cu' call, especially around dawn, dusk or before a storm. It specialises in eating caterpillars, including tent caterpillars and other outbreak species, so look in deciduous woodland edges and thickets during a caterpillar boom. Spring and early summer migration and breeding season offer the best chance of a sighting.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Move slowly and pause often rather than pushing through undergrowth toward a calling bird, since this species tends to slip away quietly rather than flush dramatically.
- Legal protections for migratory birds vary between the United States, Canada and countries along its migration route to South America, so avoid assuming any single country's rule is universal.
- Playback of recorded calls should be used sparingly if at all, as this species is easily disturbed off a nest.
LCAvesCuculiformesCuculidae
Seasonal Activity
231,913 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 51 g
Photo
(c) owlice, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.