While doing the BBS today on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, I came across a very unusual bird. Unfortunately, I was not able to get pictures so for those of you wanting more information on the ID here is what I had. A bird about the size of a flicker, it was snow white on the underside and gray to light brown on the back. It had a fairly large light colored curved bill. When perched it appeared to have? black bands on the long white tail. Although, a cuckoo would have large spots on a black tail. When the bird flew it showed reddish color in the wings. The bird was quite vocal initially and I was able to confirm with recordings of Yellow-billed Cuckoo. ?





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If anybody want to try for it, the bird was seen from the McDowell Lake Overlook near the new trail to the lake. If anyone does relocate this bird please let the refuge staff know. With the next round of storms coming in tomorrow who knows how long this bird will remain in the area. The office can be reached at 509-684-8384.





Mike Munts

Colville, WA



strix-nebulosa at centurylink.net

michael_munts at fws.gov