Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanus

HOW TO IDENTIFY:

* Length: 11 inches
* 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.