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Re: Cuckoo question
- To: <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: Re: Cuckoo question
- From: Russ Tyndall <fitzbew@redshanksoftware.com>
- Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 10:21:15 -0400
- Delivered-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- In-reply-to: <20030905130038.YOWG1810.imf24aec.mail.bellsouth.net@mail.bellsouth.net>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
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On 9/5/03 9:00 AM, "Shelley Theye" <veery@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Hopefully this is not a cuckoo (aka silly) question!
>
> I've been hearing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo(s) calling in
> the woods around my house for weeks now.
> much more often, it seems, than in the past few years.
> It is the call with a single repeated note, over
> and over again.
>
> Last night, with the windows open, I even heard it calling
> numerous times in complete darkness, somewhere between
> say midnight and 3 AM.
>
> Is it that unusual to hear a Cuckoo calling in the middle of the night?
>
> Shelley Theye
>
> Shelley Theye
> N. Chatham County, NC
> veery@bellsouth.net
The bird could still be feeling quite territorial. Below are a few instances
of YB Cuckoos nesting quite late in our two states. I don't know how
atypical such breeding behavior among YB Cuckoos may be.
1) A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was found incubating eggs at Southern Pines, NC on
Sep 15, 1974.
2) An adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo was observed feeding young at Pea Island
NWR, NC on Sep 2, 1954.
3) A Yellow-billed Cuckoo nest with 2 eggs was found in Effingham, SC on Sep
18, 1963. The eggs hatched, but the young were apparently taken by
predators.
4) A Yellow-billed Cuckoo nest with 2 eggs was found in Statesville, NC on
Aug 12, 1959. The birds hatched and fledged on Aug 22. (Apparently, YB's
fledge 7-8 days after hatching.)
I guess most of these incidents were very late second broods, perhaps in
response to some kind of caterpillar outbreak or such. Just speculating.
What are typical egg-laying dates for Yellow-bills at our latitude(s)? I
remember seeing a YB incubating near Rutherfordton, NC during the last few
days of April one year.
The last few years, a YB Cuckoo has shown up in our yard around Jul 1st. It
sings for a day or two, then vanishes.
--
Russ Tyndall
Wake Forest, NC
www.redshanksoftware.com