Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Black-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed cuckoos breed through out much of the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada.  They prefer woody areas, typically building their nest in deciduous trees or shrubs usually fairly close to the ground. Black-billed cuckoos migrate down to northwestern parts of South America for the winter.
Black-billed Cuckoo
 Black-billed cuckoos are insect eaters. They eat a variety of larger insects which they glean from trees and shrubs. They particularly prefer large caterpillars. They will often knock caterpillars against branches to dislodge their spines before they eat them. They are not always successful and end up with spines lodged in their stomach. To counter this they will shed their stomach lining to get rid of excess spines.


7 comments:

Leslie: said...

Great photos - never heard of this kind of bird before, so I learned something new from you. Thanks.

Leslie
abcw team

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

Neither have i heard of this bird but ggreat shots of it

Unknown said...

Wonderful photo's again, i never get bored by your birdsphotos!

Have a nice abc-day/-week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫

mrsnesbitt said...

fantastic captures.
Whilst we feed our garden visitors we have "acquired" a new cat who really chose us. (Long story) Felt uneasy about her stalking the birds so we have bought her a collar which she didn'tobject to - oh and it has 3 bells on it. lol.

Denise
ABC Team

Roger Owen Green said...

I'm cuckoo for your shot!
ROG, ABCW

Lady In Read said...

captured so well and visiting your blog definitely makes me feel more learned at the end :)

A Colorful World said...

Beautiful photos! Really love this bird.