This is indeed a big year for both cuckoos in our region. It is typical for their populations to fluctuate greatly, depending on where the outbreaks of caterpillars are occurring.
On a Breeding Bird Survey route in Yates and Steuben Co. on Sunday, Martha Fischer and I had 11 Yellow-billed and 7 Black-billed Cuckoos—about 10X our usual count over the past 25 years. These kinds of fluctuations make it difficult to track continent wide trends in populations for these species, both of which have shown long-term declines since 1970. Ken Sent from my iPhone On Jun 9, 2021, at 10:36 AM, Nancy Cusumano <nancycusuman...@gmail.com> wrote: Interesting! I heard a cuckoo early this morning, distantly and though Black billed. But now that you say that, it was just the single call. So now we have also had both in the area, after having neither for several years. I wonder if it is the gypsy moth caterpillars that are bringing them into the area? Thanks! Nancy On Wed, Jun 9, 2021 at 10:23 AM Donna Lee Scott <d...@cornell.edu<mailto:d...@cornell.edu>> wrote: Earlier in season I had BB Cuckoo here on Lans. Station Rd. Lately, I have heard only YB Cuckoo. Donna Scott Lansing Sent from my iPhone On Jun 9, 2021, at 10:17 AM, Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com<mailto:suan.y...@gmail.com>> wrote: Just heard the repeated single calls of a yellow-billed cuckoo outside my home / office. Coupled with the BBCU from last month, that's both cuckoos as new yard birds for me this season! Again, once I got outside it stopped calling and could not be found. Is it just me, or have the black-billed cuckoos, who seemed to be singing everywhere earlier in the season, been replaced by yellow-billed cuckoos lately? We had looks and calls from yellow-billed cuckoos on our Connecticut Hill field trip last Sunday. I also heard then saw one that afternoon at Lindsay-Parsons Suan -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
