# Yellow-billed Cuckoo

[![yellow-billed-cuckoo-1.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/yellow-billed-cuckoo-1.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/yellow-billed-cuckoo-1.jpeg)

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-an-american-kestrel-" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-width: 1px; background-color: #ecf0f1;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px;">*My first photo of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.*</td></tr></tbody></table>

### **Description**

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a cute bird with a yellow and black beak, white throat &amp; underside, a tan upper side and a yellow eye ring. I’ve only noticed it in trees and never on the ground. The bird makes a call that sounds like a crying puppy to me. It was from this crying that I found my first cuckoo on my own.

---

### <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">**Personal stats**</span>  


#### <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">**First observation**</span>

<table border="1" class="align-center" id="bkmrk-%F0%9F%93%86-12%2F01%2F2013-%F0%9F%93%8D-los-a" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 50%; border-width: 1px; height: 58px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 21.234568%;"></col><col style="width: 78.518519%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29px;"><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px;">📆</td><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px;">07/11/2021

</td></tr><tr style="height: 29px;"><td style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px; vertical-align: middle;">📍</td><td class="align-center" style="border-width: 1px; height: 29px;">San Antonio, Texas

</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### **Captured media details**

<table border="1" class="align-center" id="bkmrk-male-female-unknown-" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 80%; height: 87.5px; border-width: 1px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 12.962963%;"></col><col style="width: 27.006173%;"></col><col style="width: 29.938272%;"></col><col style="width: 29.938272%;"></col></colgroup><thead><tr style="height: 29.5px;"><td style="border-style: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Male**  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Female**  
</td><td style="height: 29.5px; border-width: 1px;">**Unknown**  
</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr style="height: 29px;"><td style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">📸</td><td style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">✔️</td></tr><tr style="height: 29px;"><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">🎙️</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">  
</td><td class="align-center" style="vertical-align: middle; height: 29px; border-width: 1px;">✔️</td></tr></tbody></table>

---

### **Experiences &amp; anecdotes**

**5/21/22 -** I technically first saw or heard this bird on a group trip to Mitchell Lake in July 2021 but consider my own 'discovery' of this bird to be the following month when I found it at Pearsall Park on my own. I got a really great look and ID of it and even got a recording of its 'crying puppy' call. I hadn't seen this bird since last year and when I led my first bird walk this past weekend, it made a grand appearance to everyone's delight.

---

### **Captured media**

#### **Photographs**

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">**[![yellow-billed-cuckoo-2.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/yellow-billed-cuckoo-2.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/yellow-billed-cuckoo-2.jpeg)**</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-an-american-kestrel--1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td class="align-center" style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">A Yellow-billed Cuckoo holding what looks like a caterpillar it found | 08/07/2021</span>*</td></tr></tbody></table>

<span style="text-decoration: underline;">  
</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">[![yellow-billed-cuckoo-3.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/yellow-billed-cuckoo-3.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/yellow-billed-cuckoo-3.jpeg)</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-a-poofed-up-kestrel-" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 29px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 29px;"><td class="align-center" style="height: 29px; background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*A profile view of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 05/21/2022*</td></tr></tbody></table>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">  
</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*[![yellow-billed-cuckoo-4.jpeg](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/scaled-1680-/yellow-billed-cuckoo-4.jpeg)](https://birding.wiki/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/yellow-billed-cuckoo-4.jpeg)*</span>

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-the-american-kestrel-1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 99.876543%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td class="align-center" style="background-color: rgb(236, 240, 241);">*Front view of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 08/02/2021*</td></tr></tbody></table>

---

#### **Audio recordings**

- [**ML358695801**](https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/358695801) - 1:50 
    - *Listen to the coos of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It reminds me of a puppy.*

<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="392" src="https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/358695801/embed" width="320"></iframe>

---

### **From my blogs**

- [Leading a bird walk at Pearsall Park with Bexar Audubon Society](https://becausebirds.com/leading-a-bird-walk-at-pearsall-park-with-bexar-audubon-society/)
- [Los Angeles Bird Fest 2015 Attracts Bird Lovers from All Over](https://becausebirds.com/los-angeles-bird-fest-2015-attracts-bird-lovers-from-all-over/)
- [Finding a Yellow-billed Cuckoo while birding at Pearsall Park](https://becausebirds.com/finding-a-yellow-billed-cuckoo-while-birding-at-pearsall-park/)
- [Birding in Boerne](https://becausebirds.com/birding-in-boerne/)
- [Painted Buntings and Nesting Scissor-tailed Flycatchers](https://becausebirds.com/painted-buntings-and-nesting-scissor-tailed-flycatchers/)
- [Recording and photographing birds at the same time](https://becausebirds.com/recording-and-photographing-birds-at-the-same-time/)