Overview
Common Cuckoo: Large cuckoo, gray upperparts, paler underparts with dark bars on belly. Dark gray wings; tail is dark gray with spotting on outer edges near base. Feeds on caterpillars, insects and larvae. Wings are held low in flight, depressed far below body at bottom of downstroke.
Range and Habitat
Common Cuckoo: Native of Eurasia; casual visitor to the Pribilofs and Aleutians; accidental in Massachusetts.
Cuckoos and Roadrunners (Cuculidae)
ORDER
The taxonomic order CUCULIFORMES (pronounced koo-koo-lih-FOR-meez) is composed of just one family, the cuckoos.
FAMILY TAXONOMY
Included in the Cuculidae (pronounced koo-KOO-lih-dee) family are one hundred and forty-six species of cuckoos in thirty genera found on all continents (especially Asia) except for Antarctica.
NORTH AMERICA
North America has twenty-five species of the Cuculidae in ten genera. This family includes the arboreal cuckoos, all dark anis, and the terrestrial roadrunners.
KNOWN FOR
Although the Common Cuckoo of Eurasia is most well known for depositing its eggs in the nests of other bird species, most cuckoos that breed in North America do not share this behavior. However, one species that has been documented as an occasional brood parasite is the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a bird also known for calling before rain storms hence its nickname the “rain crow”.
PHYSICAL
Cuckoos are lanky, long-tailed birds medium to large in size. While arboreal species such as the Black-billed Cuckoo have rather short legs, the roadrunners have long, strong legs perfect for their terrestrial habits. All species have zygodactyl feet (two toes pointing forwards and two pointing backwards). Migratory species have long, pointed wings and resident species such as the anis and roadrunners have short, broad wings. The bills of cuckoos are rather long and slightly decurved, the exception being the stout, arched bills of the anis.
COLORATION
Somber colors may be typical for the plumages of North American species, but plumage patterns vary. While the anis are entirely black, the Common and Oriental Cuckoos have mostly gray plumage with black barring on the underparts, and the Mangrove, Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos have brown upperparts, white or creamy underparts, and black on the face. These all have white spots in the tail, a feature also shared by the Greater Roadrunner although the rest of its plumage is streaky brown and white. Yellow and red is shown by some cuckoos in their bills and facial skin (blue in the case of roadrunners).
GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT
In North America, cuckoos are distributed in non-forest and edge habitats from the southern edge of the boreal zone, south into the tropics. The Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos are mostly eastern birds of forest edge and second growth, the similar Mangrove Cuckoo is restricted to mangroves in southern Florida. The Smooth-billed Ani also occurs in southern Florida, while the Groove-billed Ani resides in southern Texas. Texas is also home to the Greater Roadrunner, a bird of desert and scrub from Arkansas south and west to California. Other species of cuckoos recorded in the United States and Canada are vagrants from Asia and South America.
MIGRATION
Although the anis and Greater Roadrunner are permanent residents, the other cuckoo species migrate to Central and South America.
HABITS
While anis are very social birds that live in family groups and build communal nests, other cuckoos are solitary in nature. The anis forage together in scrub and on the ground for small creatures, and pick ticks off the backs of livestock. The Greater Roadrunner also forages on the ground, dashing after lizards and other small animals. The other North American cuckoo species forage for insects (especially their larvae) in bushes and trees.
CONSERVATION
No cuckoo species are threatened or endangered in North America.
INTERESTING FACTS
Caterpillars make up a large part of the diet of both Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos. They even take caterpillars with spines or hairs that other birds won’t eat. Cuckoos are able to deal with the irritating hairs by periodically shedding the lining of their stomachs.