Dark-billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus melacoryphus
The dark-billed cuckoo is 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11.0 in) long, about half of which is the tail. Males weigh about 42 to 54 g (1.5 to 1.9 oz) and females about 50 to 66 g (1.8 to 2.3 oz). Males and females have the same plumage. They have a gray crown and nape and grayish brown upperparts. Their wings are a darker grayish brown with no rufous. The upper surface of their tail is brown; the underside of the central pair of feathers is brown with black tips, the next pair blackish with narrow white tips, and the rest black with wide white tips. Voice: The dark-billed cuckoo's song is variously described as "six to eight resonant, buzzy kazoo-like notes" and "a ventriloquial ga-ga-ga-go-go." Another vocalization is "a descending series of guttural notes" that may also be a song. It makes "a dry-sounding buzz...dddddrr" call.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Great Lizard Cuckoo
Coccyzus merlini
The great lizard cuckoo is the largest species in genus Coccyzus. It is 42 to 54 cm (17 to 21 in) long, about half of which is the tail, and weighs about 100 to 155 g (3.5 to 5.5 oz). Both sexes within each subspecies have the same plumage, but males are larger than females. The species' bill is long and almost straight, with a black or dusky maxilla and a paler mandible. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. m. merlini have an olive-brown crown, nape, and upperparts. Their primaries are rufous, but that color often only shows in flight. Voice: The great lizard cuckoo's principal vocalization is the "Long Call", described as "a throaty ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-kau-kau-ko-ko...with the second part gradually increasing in volume and increasing slightly in the speed of delivery before finally slowing again". It calls at any time of day, but sporadically.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Words used here
- upperparts:
- the back, wings and top of the tail
- nominate:
- the first form of the species to be named, which carries the species name twice
- primaries:
- the outermost flight feathers, out at the wingtip
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dark-billed Cuckoo and Great Lizard Cuckoo.