Hello Birders: Further to Wayne's forwarding of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo
sighting, it would be interesting to get a summary of recent records from
BC.

The only 2 I am aware of from the Kamloops area are as follows:

Sep. 14, 1998 - 1 in Kamloops by Clara Ritcey in her backyard

Oct. 28, 1995 - 1 dead bird found at McLure, north of Kamloops. I examined
this
specimen and sent it to Ottawa for verification
of subspecies.
The gurus there never contacted me again.

These late dates suggest vagrant birds much like the Castlegar bird.

This species was poorly-documented as a possible breeder in the Kamloops
area during the late 1800s, but it has had dramatic range reductions since
then. It was more regular in the Fraser Valley.

Although Black-billed Cuckoos are seen more often in BC, I am only aware of
2-3 records for the Kamloops area, in the summers of 1982 & 1986. These were
during heavy outbreaks of Tussock moths, which have hairy caterpillars which
cuckoos like.
So this species is as equally rare here as is the YB Kook.

Rick Howie
Kamloops, BC
rick.howie at shaw.ca