Hi Tweets,

Sharron Huffman writes:

>Sure enough,
>a few weeks later I heard "the rest of the story" from my neighbor. They
>saw the bird alive, being chased by their cat. They watched the cat kill
>the bird. Then they threw the bird onto the beach. (One person's garbage
>....)

Classy.

>Some people, of course, questioned whether the cuckoo got here on her own.
>But there were a LOT of caterpillars that year (black ones) and I felt that
>she must have been lured up the coast.

I'd wonder how? That's a *long* way to be lured. Can cuckoos smell
caterpillar pheromones way downwind? Could that be how they locate infestations?

> maybe these birds are such good skulkers, we're all
>surrounded by them and don't know it!!

You ain't kidding, that's entirely possible: they're about as easy to see as
a Side-hill Gouger caught out in the open. In Birds of BC, Campbell et al
precis D. Gaines (Review of the Status of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo in
California, etc., 1974), regarding must-have conditions for Yellow-billed
Cuckoo, at least in California: "...has shown that the Yellow-billed Cuckoo
is absent where (1) understory (sic) vegetation is sparce (sic), (2) water
is more than 100 m away, and (3) the vegetation is not sufficiently
extensive, at least 300 m in length and 100 m in width."

So, optimally, California-population YB Cuckoo hangs near water, likes
major-sized woodlots with a well-vegetated understorey. Well, I suppose the
developers have overlooked one or two around here. Be worth looking late in
the next northbound migration.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net