Date: 9/6/25 5:30 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Cuckoo ID
A couple people wrote asking why, based on just the single photo available, it was a black billed and not a yellow billed cuckoo, and a couple folks even wrote saying they initially thought it might be a yellow billed but now they're on the fence. To me, the one and only photo shows a bill that seems a little short and not droopy enough for a yellow billed, and the base of the bill looks more grayish than yellowish, and you especially have that wash of color on the throat and upper breast that looks kind of dingy grayish or Buffy gray, which is typical of young black billeds. Conversely, a slightly enhanced photo seems to show a fair bit of rufous in the wing, perhaps more then a black billed would show, though they can show a tiny bit.
Paul Lehman, San Diego
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