Tweets,

Jerry Tangren <tangren at wsu.edu> wrote:

A few thoughts I don't believe have yet been expressed concerning
cuckoos in WA and BC (sorry if I overlooked your comments):

1. The western race of the yellow-billed cuckoo appears to have more
selective habitat requirements than the eastern race. We may call
birds overshoots because they occur hundreds of miles north of other
birds. However, this distance may be more of a function of the lack of
suitable habitat rather than birds on steroids.

2. Cuckoos are one of the last birds to arrive in suitable habitat in
central California, often well into June. For years they may have been
overlooked in some areas because the birders (I among them)
quit looking in the riparian habitats after the "last" of the spring
migrants passed through in mid-May or so.

====================================================================

I can definitely confirm Jerry's statements about Cuckoo arrivals in
Central California. I only found Cuckoos in that location because I was
looking for another relatively late breeding species, Phainopepla, in a
dry brushy cliffside habitat that bordered the riparian spaces favored
by Cuckoos and just happened to hear the most distinctive call. After I
knew when and where to look I actually found quite a number of the birds
- they are definitely lurkers. Patience, and a good caterpillar source
are the clue to locating these guys.

Maybe there should be a concerted hunt for the elusive cuckoo by Pacific
NW birders this June. IMHO scouting good bits of riparian habitat with
a infestations of tent caterpillars and people willing to plop down from
dawn to dusk in one place is what it would take. These people would
certainly be known as the cuckoo cuckoo's.

Rob Conway
Bellevue, WA

robin_conway at hotmail.com





______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com