Some folks like ducks. Some folks like hawks, and then there are individuals who LOVE cuckoos! Apparently I am that kind of person. I remember while on a self-supported bicycle tour in northern Scotland, even though I biked 833 miles I NEVER saw this fabled bird. I would take hikes after a full day’s ride to attempt to obtain a sighting. The cuckoos would be calling out just before sunset … “cuckoo, cuckoo”; yet nada. I was truly cuckoo.
Thankfully, in the last nine years I have learned the finer art of finding cuckoos. However, it was with trepidation that I headed out this morning at 6:55 am. Would Cuckoo Quest 2025 be successful? Apparently the numbers of this famous bird are a bit down this year. I think a primary food source of the cuckoo, the tent caterpillar, is not in the same abundance as some years.
Cornell describers the probability of spotting the Black-Billed Cuckoo (learn more) in this manner: “Uncommon and elusive, the Black-billed Cuckoo skulks around densely wooded eastern forests and thickets. Its staccato song can be heard day and night, but getting a look at its slender brown body and namesake black bill may take a bit of patience.”
The Black-Billed Cuckoo!
Cuckoo Quest 2025 was Success!
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This was the most surprising bird to me when I truly became a bird watcher. I always loved birds but when I claimed the title and became serious I was astonished the we had a Cuckoo, no two in North America. I thought they were birds of clocks and fairytales.
When I saw my first Yellow-billed I was surprised and amazed like I had spotted a bird of the Amazon or something. Then the quest was on for the Black-billed. I heard many more of them before I saw one but it it was stunning.
The Cuckoo is a bird that I have come to enjoy more for its call than for seeing it over the years as it is ever present in the hillsides of my West Virginia home various times throughout the migration season. To step out on the porch and hear its call makes me smile and think, “how many people even know we have cuckoos in WV?”
I have shared my love of birds with my students and friends over the years but this is one bird I don’t believe any of them have had the opportunity to enjoy yet. Maybe I should make that a goal when I retire next year, to introduce them to the WV Cuckoo, and I don’t mean ME 😛
I totally understand and do NOT believe you are cuckoo!
You obviously understand Cuckoo Quest! I never did find the Scottish Cuckoo, but it made my first North American discovery of that species extra special.
hurrah- glad you found one. we’ve seen quite a few tent caterpillar nests this year, especially in wisconsin
Where were you birding that you found the cuckoo?
On Mannik Road just south of the Iron River Fish Hatchery.
Quite a find!
Holy Cuckoo, 365-Birdman! The black-billed Cuckoo sighting & song in northern Mn is pretty wild. Although a bit different in appearance & song, the Common Cuckoo in Finland sighting & song is akin to the Common Loon in northern Minnesota particularly over Midsummer. Fun!