Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)
About the Black-billed Cuckoo
The black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus) is a New World species in the Cuculidae (cuckoo) family. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name, kokkuzo, means to call like a common cuckoo, and erythropthalmus is from eruthros, "red" and ophthalmos, "eye". It is very similar to, and overlaps in range with, the closely related yellow-billed cuckoo. A distinguishing characteristic of the family Cuculidae is laying eggs in the nests of other birds. Although many cuckoos are obligate brood parasites, C. erythropthalmus often incubate their own chicks.
A real field recording of the Black-billed Cuckoo. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
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Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed CC BY ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Canada, Ecuador, Honduras, United States · xeno-canto lists 121 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- Dark-billed CuckooCoccyzus melacoryphusprofile
- Great Lizard CuckooCoccyzus merliniprofile
- Grey-capped CuckooCoccyzus lansbergiprofile
- Mangrove CuckooCoccyzus minorprofile
- Pearly-breasted CuckooCoccyzus euleriprofile
- Puerto Rican Lizard CuckooCoccyzus vieillotiprofile
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.