Tweeters and Inland Birders,

On October 18, a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO was found on Waldie Island near
Castlegar, B.C. It remained through about noon yesterday, and was
seen by several observers from Castlegar and surrounding areas. It was
also photographed. Castlegar is located on the Columbia River not far
north of the Canada/US border.

I am forwarding the original account from WKBIRDS (the West Kootenay
birding E-mail group) by Janice Arndt of Nelson, who found the bird.

This is the first B.C. record of YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO in quite a few
years.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Janice/Steve Arndt <jarndt at telus.net>
To: wk <wkbirds at yahoogroups.com>; <bcintbird at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 2:39 PM
Subject: [wkbirds] YBCU in Castlegar


> This afternoon, at about 12:45, I observed a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO at
the
> Waldie Island Trail in Castlegar. This bird first gave me two
> titillating glimpses in flight , then an unsatisfactory look through
the
> branches of a cottonwood, then finally great views out in the open
at
> close range. It had a bright yellow eyering, yellow-orange at the
base
> of the bill (more extensive on the lower mandible) and rufous in the
> primaries. Like any good birder should, I made a sketch and id notes
> before consulting any reference guides; I also tried to contact
another
> local birder so it wouldn't be a single-observer sighting, but
> unfortunately Ed Beynon is the only Castlegar birder I know and was
not
> at home at the time. If anyone wants to try to re-locate it, it was
on
> the trail near the far corner of the sewage lagoon exclosure, when
> accessing the trail from the parking lot at the railway bridge.
>
> Although this is not a lifer for me (I have seen both cuckoo species
in
> hand and in the wild at Long Point Bird Observatory in Ontario),
this is
> probably the rarest bird I have seen in a long time. As far as I
know,
> there is only one previous YBCU sighting for the West Kootenay, (an
> October bird at Creston, I don't know what year.) If anyone wants
> further details please feel free to email me privately.
>
> Janice Arndt
> Nelson BC