Comments on the Las Macanas cuckoo

Guido Berguido has been collecting comments on his cuckoo photos taken at Las Macanas on june 20.

hallo guido,

In Suriname we have an observation of the y-b cuckoo in june 10 birds on 7 of june 1972 along the coast (see http://webserv.nhl.nl/~ribot/php4/verspreiding.php4). Given the time to  fly back it comes near to your date. Nowadays they are rare by the way (about ten times less frequent now then before 1990, I guess).

Best regards

jan hein ribot

"Birds in Suriname" website

Yellow-billed Cuckoos I know quite well as a bird that breeds near to my home.  My experience with Pearly-breasted Cuckoo is far more limited, with a heard-only bird in Argentina near Iguacu Falls.

Still, I have an opinion.  I see none of the rufous that I would expect on either an adult or juvenile Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  The uppertail also fails to show any white spotting.

Accordingly, I believe that this bird is a Pearly-breasted.

Any vocalizations?

Larry Gardella

Montgomery, AL