Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo [lateral view of adult]: Photograph Credit: copyright Dave Hawkins Photo, Nashville, Tennessee; Edgar Evins State Rustic Park, DeKalb County, Tennessee; 25 May 2008.

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Abundance: Uncommon, typically, from late spring to mid-autumn, but moderate fluctuations in local abundance from year to year are apparently a part of the species' life history; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); because of fluctuations in its abundance, determination of a population trend for this cuckoo is difficult to achieve (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; specimen (15 June 1938; Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph (see above).

Regional High Count and SBC/SBB High Count: 23 (8 May 2004; Pulaski County, Kentucky [SBC]; m. ob.); FBC/FBB High Count: 9 (30 September 2006; Macon County, Tennessee [FBB]; m. ob.).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: x (

    Late Fall: x (

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread by 10 May; fall departure largely complete by 1 October.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow:

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent).

Habitat: Mature woodlands of many types.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 26 (of 125) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 38 (of 206) check-lists during 2004, leading to a YardWatch frequency classification of Fairly Common each year; this YardWatch frequency classification indicates that this cuckoo is a bit more likely to be encountered in Regional yards and neighborhoods than in the Region as a whole, perhaps because its vocalizations are fairly easy to detect and to recognize.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: This cuckoo is difficult to count in more than moderate (i.e., 10–20 individuals) numbers.  A count of 18 was made 25 May 1994 between Station Camp and Leatherwood Ford during a 5.6-hour, 12-km [8-mi] hike in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BSFNRRA), Scott County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman; Stedman and Stedman 2002), and this total is about the most cuckoos of this species that may be counted by one observer in a day.

    The Yellow-billed Cuckoo appears to undergo considerable year-to-year variation in its local abundance within the Region, probably as a consequence of its dependence on hairy caterpillars that are themselves susceptible to considerable variation in their local abundance.  Numbers of Yellow-billed Cuckoos counted at 100 points of five minutes each during the years from 1998 to 2006 in the BSFNRRA follow, revealing considerable variation in the number counted each year: 19, 29, 23, 31, 10, 20, 54, 59, 9.  By contrast, numbers counted during the same years on the eight Breeding Bird Surveys conducted within the Region follow, revealing somewhat less variation from year to year: 63, 50, 32, 49, 41, 61, 62, 39, 54.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited