Black-billed Cuckoo (Finally); And as a Yardbird No Less, May 25, 2020

Over my last 25 years of birding in New England I found that Black-billed Cuckoo was an uncommon migrant and breeder in the region, though often one that was difficult to see even while calling.  I expected a similar distribution in my new home base of western NC.  After all, the range maps show this species as a migrant and nester in this area just like in New England.  However, the following description of its relative abundance in the NC mountains region, from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance”, would suggest otherwise:

“Summer resident, and transient. In summer, rare to occasionally or locally uncommon, but sporadic, more "numerous" in some years than others, but seldom even uncommon. Nests mainly between 3,000 and 5,500 feet, somewhat more frequent above 4,000 feet. A good majority of summer records are from the Blue Ridge Parkway, perhaps because of ease of access to higher elevations of deciduous forests. Rare as a transient across the province.”

And this statement in the General Comments of that publication seems to sum it all up – “the average birder will not see a Black-billed Cuckoo in the state in a given year unless he or she is afield several times a week.” 

Another factor in the challenges of finding either the Black-billed or the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is that they will often perch very still in dense vegetation.  So even though they are large birds, they can be very difficult to spot - even if they are singing.  For instance, the vast majority of my Cuckoo sightings over the years have either been heard-only birds, or individuals first seen in flight.

In any case, it would sure seem like Black-billed Cuckoo is actually a rarity in western NC.  Well perhaps except for Spring 2020.

Last Fall in my first migration season in the area I only remember a few sightings being reported.  A review of eBird data shows only 6 reports in the region.  However, the story was quite a bit different this Spring with a number of posts being mentioned on the Blue Ridge Birders text group.  Enough so that some suggested that there were more records than normal this Spring.  eBird records certainly indicated something was up – the NC mountains had just 5 Spring records in 2018 and 9 in 2019, while there were at least 32 records in Spring 2020.  Plus there were comments about the potential for nesting at a couple sites.

Some postulated that the higher numbers were correlated with the hatching of the local brood of 17-Year Cicadas.  But per the map below, the brood in Buncombe County (Brood XIV) wasn’t due to emerge until 2025.  And the Henderson County brood (Brood VI) wouldn’t emerge for another 14 years.  The closest area for Brood IX which was emerging this year was in the far northwestern corner of NC.  So an increased food source in the form of newly hatched cicadas didn’t seem to be a likely cause.

Source - https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/docs/CicadaBroodStaticMap.pdf

Whatever the reason for their increased abundance, with each BBCU sighting mentioned on the text group or in eBird Needs Alerts my need to see one to add it to my NC statelist became greater and greater.  However, given the ephemeral nature of these birds in migration, I didn’t chase after any posted sightings, that is with the exception of one feeble attempt I made to find one seen the previous day at the Biltmore Estate.  Instead I figured I’d have to find one on my own.  Perhaps right in my yard.  But despite being out in the field a lot this spring, the only Cuckoos I was able to find were Yellow-billed– 2 in my yard, and 2 others elsewhere in the area. 

eBird shows BBCUs peaking in abundance in Henderson County in the first 2 weeks of May, so by late May I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I had missed my opportunity to see one in this banner migration season.  I guess I’d just have to wait for a future season to find one.  Migration had mostly ended in my yard by this point and I was generally spending less time on my deck doing “Big Sits”.  In fact, bird activity had reduced so much that on May 25th I almost decided to not bring my binocs out with me.  But I’m sure glad I did. 

Soon after coming out on the deck that morning I got a quick glimpse of a large bird flying into the understory in the backyard nearby.  I expected it was a Cuckoo, but what species?  I quickly headed over to the spot, and luckily was able to re-find the bird.  It was indeed a Cuckoo, but its back was toward me, and the head was completely obscured.  That meant I couldn’t see bill color, but that’s just one of many field marks for Cuckoo ID.  The folded wings didn’t seem to have any rusty coloration in the primaries, which was good for Black-billed.  But the reddish primaries are only easy to see on a Yellow-billed when it’s in flight, so I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be able to see the rusty primaries on this sitting Cuckoo.  Then I focused on the tail – I couldn’t see any white at all, but again with the bird facing away that’s of little help when looking for the amount of white under the tail to ID the bird.  And then with a step to one side I was able to see the face of the bird.  Although the bill was still blocked from view I could see the red orbital ring of the Black-billed Cuckoo – a field mark I had just learned earlier this Spring.  Who needs to see the bill color to ID a Cuckoo?  Eventually I did end up seeing the bill and of course it was all black.  I watched the BBCU for another minute or two before it headed back into the woods out of view.  Though perhaps the bird was hiding in plain sight just a few feet away.

Success!  New NC statebird #299.  (Wonder what #300 will be.)  And yet another great bird for my yard - #127 for the list.  I guess I didn’t have to worry about finding one this Spring after all.

My statebird map for Black-billed Cuckoo is inserted below.  Shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species; the many cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I’ve yet to catch up with it.  I said these birds can be difficult to find…