Category: Cuculiformes

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus): A Technical Conservation Assessment

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 5 abstract In western North America, yellow-billed cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus) have undergone catastrophic declines; the eastern subspecies has undergone less rapid declines in most areas since approximately 1980. Direct loss and degradation of low-elevation riparian woodland habitats have been cited as the primary causes for the declines in yellow-billed […]

Nest predation in relation to nest placement in the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major

Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) Science Article 2 abstract Selection of a suitable nesting site may determine failure or success of the breeding attempt. For instance, nest placement affects the radiative environment and thus survival of eggs and nestlings (Walsberg 1981). Nest placement also affects the likelihood of predation upon eggs and nestlings (e.g., Robertson 1973, […]

Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) in Mexico

Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) Science Article 1 abstract The Greater Ani, Crotophaga major (Cuculidae), is the largest species of Crotophaga and is further distinguishedb y the characteristic’ broken nose’s hape of the bill and the light-coloredi ris. The species inhabits river swamps and marshes throughout the lowlands of South America to northern Argentina but has […]

Getting rid of the cuckoo Cuculus canorus egg: why do hosts delay rejection?

Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) Science Article 6 abstract Egg discrimination is well documented in many hosts of avian brood parasites, but the proximate mechanisms of egg recognition and rejection decisions are poorly understood. Relevant in this respect is the observation that rejectors of parasite eggs often delay their response. This delay has implications for understanding mechanisms […]

Phylogeny of the cuckoo genus Coccyzus(Aves: Cuculidae): a test of monophyly

Dark-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus melacoryphus) Science Article 1 abstract Coccyzus comprises nine species of New World cuckoos (Aves: Cuculidae)that breed from southern Canada to central South America. The phylogeny of thisgenus was reconstructed using 2490 base pairs of the mitochondrial genes cytochromeoxidase II and III, and cytochrome b. Maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony,and Bayesian inference approaches produced […]

Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s egg in Mourning Dove’s nest

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 2 abstract On June 10, 1952, I found one egg of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) in the nest of a Mourning Dove (Zenaidura rnacrou~a) . The location of this nest was on the Cranbrook Estate in Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. WALTER P. NICKELL, Wilson bull. Vol. 66, […]

Distribution and Status of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo(Coccyzus americanus) in Wyoming

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 4 abstract The future federal status of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) in NorthAmerica remains unclear. A petition was filed in 1986 to list the western subspecies (C. a.occidentalis) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(USFWS) published a 12-month finding in 1998 stating that […]

EXTERNAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEWLY HATCHED CUCKOOS (COCCYZUS AMERICANUS AND C. ERYTHROPTHALMUS)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 1 abstract This paper describes characters by which nestling Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos can be distinguished. It is based on a small collection that I made at Bloomington, Indiana, before I discovered Herrick’s paper. The nests from which I took the birds presented no anomalies. VAL NOLAN, JR., Condor(77)3:341 […]

Phylogeny of the cuckoo genus Coccyzus(Aves: Cuculidae): a test of monophyly

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Science Article 3 abstract Coccyzus comprises nine species of New World cuckoos (Aves: Cuculidae)that breed from southern Canada to central South America. The phylogeny of thisgenus was reconstructed using 2490 base pairs of the mitochondrial genes cytochromeoxidase II and III, and cytochrome b. Maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony,and Bayesian inference approaches produced […]