Coccyzus americanus
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)
Featured photoyellow-billed-cuckoo.jpgCoccyzus americanus, the yellow-billed cuckoo, is a medium-sized cuckoo of the family Cuculidae, native to North America. Adults are 26 to 30 cm long with a wingspan of 38 to 43 cm and weigh 50 to 90 g. The plumage is brown above with white underparts, a long graduated tail with white outer tips, rufous wing patches in flight, and a yellow lower mandible. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. Unlike Old World cuckoos, North American Coccyzus cuckoos build their own nests and raise their own young.
Quick facts
- Habitat
- Open deciduous woodland, riparian groves, and orchards across the eastern half of North America. Winters in mature humid forests of South America. The species favours edge habitat with abundant caterpillar prey.
- Range
- Breeds across the eastern half of North America from southern Canada south to the Gulf Coast and into Mexico. Winters across most of South America east of the Andes. The species' western North American populations have declined and are listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act.
- Size
- 26–30 cm body · 38–43 cm wingspan · 50–90 g
- Plumage
- Adults show grey-brown upperparts, white underparts, a long graduated tail with bold white outer-feather tips visible from below, and rufous-brown patches on the inner primary feathers visible in flight. The lower mandible is bright yellow — the source of the species' name — while the upper mandible is dark grey. Both sexes look alike.
- Song
- Adults give a slow series of hollow 'kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kowlp-kowlp-kowlp' notes that drop in pitch toward the end. The call carries far in still woodland air and is one of the most familiar summer woodland sounds in eastern North America.
- Migration
- Long-distance Neotropical migrant. North American breeders winter from Colombia south to northern Argentina. Migration timing tracks caterpillar availability and is unusually flexible — some breeding pairs delay nesting by weeks during years with low caterpillar abundance.
- Conservation
- Least Concern (LC)
Overview
Coccyzus americanus is one of fourteen Coccyzus cuckoo species across the New World. Unlike the Old World cuckoos (Cuculus and relatives), North American Coccyzus cuckoos build their own nests and raise their own young — they are not obligate brood parasites. Occasional intra-specific brood parasitism (a female laying an egg in another yellow-billed cuckoo's nest) does occur, and the species sometimes lays in the nests of other songbirds, but the obligate parasitism of the Old World genus is absent.
Distribution
The breeding range covers the eastern half of North America. Western populations (along Pacific coastal and Rocky Mountain riparian corridors) have declined sharply over the last fifty years and are listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act since 2014. Drivers include loss of riparian woodland habitat, water diversion that has destroyed cottonwood-willow habitat, and direct effects of pesticide use. Eastern populations remain widely distributed but are also slowly declining.
Caterpillar specialist
Yellow-billed cuckoos are unusually heavy consumers of hairy caterpillars — the larvae of tent caterpillars, gypsy moths, and other species that most birds avoid because of irritant hairs. The cuckoo can digest hairy caterpillars by periodically sloughing the irritant hairs as a stomach lining and regurgitating the casting. The behaviour is shared with the Old World cuckoos and is one of the few avian responses to hairy-caterpillar outbreaks. The species is sometimes called the 'rain crow' in folk culture because of an old association between its calls and approaching summer thunderstorms.
Sources & further reading (2)
- iucn-red-list — accessed 2026-04-30
- encyclopedia — accessed 2026-04-30
Frequently asked questions
Do yellow-billed cuckoos lay eggs in other birds' nests?
Unlike the Old World common cuckoo, North American Coccyzus cuckoos build their own nests and raise their own young. Occasional intra-specific brood parasitism (a female laying an egg in another yellow-billed cuckoo's nest) does happen, and the species occasionally lays in the nests of other songbirds (the black-billed cuckoo, robins, catbirds), but the obligate parasitism of Old World cuckoos is absent.
Why is the species called the 'rain crow'?
Yellow-billed cuckoos call most actively during the warm humid weather that often precedes summer thunderstorms in the American Southeast. The folk association between cuckoo calls and approaching storms gave the species the colloquial name 'rain crow' — the call was thought to forecast rain. The 'rain crow' name is still occasionally heard in rural areas of the southeastern United States.
Why are western yellow-billed cuckoos endangered?
The species' western populations (along Pacific coastal and Rocky Mountain riparian corridors) have declined sharply and were listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act in 2014. Drivers include loss of cottonwood-willow riparian woodland habitat to dam construction, water diversion, and grazing; intensive pesticide use across western agricultural landscapes; and habitat fragmentation. Eastern populations remain distributed across the broader range but are also slowly declining.
