Black-billed Cuckoo

Table

Black-billed Cuckoo – Accepted
1. 22 Sep 1965	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1984-012	9	ph., Roberson (1980)
2. 24 Sep 1974		Big Sycamore Canyon VEN	1980-235	7,26
3. 08 Sep 1976	HY	Carmel R. mouth MTY	1976-041	3
4. 03 Oct 1979	HY	southern Samoa Peninsula HUM	1982-037	8	ph., HSU 4688, dead 1–2 weeks
5. 08–14 Sep 1980	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1980-174	7	ph., AB 35:222
6. 12–13 Sep 1981	HY	Brock Research Center IMP	1981-076	7	ph.
7. 18 Oct 1985	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1986-012	11	ph.
8. 29 Aug 1986	HY	Mono Lake County Park MNO	1986-440	12
9. 02–04 Oct 1986	HY	Big Sur R. mouth MTY	1986-381	12
10. 26 Aug 1987	HY	Southeast Farallon I. SF	1987-246	13	Fig. 189, ph., AB 42:130
11. 09 Sep 1987	HY	Lanphere Dunes HUM	1988-139	13	ph.
12. 12–17 Sep 1987	HY	Pt. Reyes MRN	1987-242	13
13. 04–06 Oct 1989	HY	Huntington Beach ORA	1989-146	15	ph.
14. 18 Aug 1996	AHY	San Nicolas I. VEN	1996-104	22	ph., SBMNH 6446
15. 19 Sep–02 Oct 1996	HY	Fairhaven HUM	1997-056	22
16. 24 Jun 2002		Pachalka Spring SBE	2002-119	28
Black-billed Cuckoo – Not accepted, provenance of specimen questionable
? Mar 1918		Fresno FRE	1995-042	21	ph., UWBM 10199
Black-billed Cuckoo – Not accepted, identification not established
26 May 2000		Scotty’s Castle INY	2000-091	26

Figure

Figure 189. Fifteen Black-billed Cuckoos have been found in California during autumn migration (16 August–18 October) including this first-fall bird, photographed on 26 August 1987 at Southeast Farallon Island (1987-246; Peter Pyle).

Black-billed Cuckoo

BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO Coccyzus erythropthalmus (Wilson, 1811)

Accepted: 16 (89%)	Treated in Appendix H: no
Not accepted: 2	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 0	Color image: none

This cuckoo breeds across eastern North America, from eastern Alberta east to Nova Scotia and from Nebraska east to the Carolinas. The species winters in the eastern half of northern and central South America, including Trinidad, and is a casual or accidental vagrant to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, British Columbia, Sinaloa, Baja California (Isla Cedros 14 May 1986, Ruiz-Campos et al. 2001), the Caribbean, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, Europe, the Azores, and northern Argentina.

Starting with the first record, on 22 September 1965 at Pt. Reyes in Marin County (van Velzen 1967), the Black-billed Cuckoo has established a well-defined pattern of autumn vagrancy to California. All but one of the 16 accepted records fall between 18 August and 18 October. The exception, involving an individual found on 24 June 2002 at Pachalka Spring on Clark Mtn. in San Bernardino County, is one of only three records from the state’s interior. The lone record of a fall adult refers to a male collected on the early date of 18 August 1996 on San Nicolas Island, Ventura County. Another specimen—reportedly obtained at Fresno, Fresno County, in March 1918—is of a Black-billed Cuckoo, but the species has never been recorded during March in North America, suggesting a mistaken date or location (Garrett and Singer 1998).

After nine records during the 1980s, the 1990s produced but two (both in 1996), and only one has been reported in the 2000s. Such irregular patterns of occurrence may reflect fluctuating abundance of prey species, especially tent caterpillars (Malacosoma spp.), on the breeding grounds (e.g., Bent 1940).