Black-billed Cuckoo at the Scarborough Bluffs: June 2020

Every time I hear the unmistakable coo-coo…coo-coo of a Black-billed Cuckoo, I make every possible effort to spot this elusive bird.

The North American cuckoo is not the same bird as the European cuckoo. The two note call of that bird was a symbol of infidelity in Shakespeare:

The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men; for thus sings he, “Cuckoo”;
Cuckoo, cuckoo” – O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear – (Love’s Labour’s Lost)

Beethoven has the clarinet imitate it in his Pastoral Symphony.

Our cuckoo is uncommon and local in woods and feeds mainly on caterpillars. I was fortunate to find one in the open at the eastern edge of the Scarborough Bluffs and captured it in one photographic pose only as it flew away as I approached.

The black, slightly curved bill is diagnostic.

Juvenile birds can look quite comical as you see here:

Other birds:

I always tell groups that Cormorants are completely silent. On this day, however, I was thrilled to hear the deafening whirr of wings as repeated flocks of hundreds passed close by while I walked on the rocky beach.

The Scarborough Bluffs make a perfect habitat for colonies of Bank Swallows and likely have for 1,000’s of years.

Views of the Bluffs and area:

Some botany:

NATURE POETRY

Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. – Shakespeare

Miles Hearn