Bird Guide

Dark-billed Cuckoo vs Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo

Dark-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus melacoryphus)

Dark-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus melacoryphus

Small50 gWoodland

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

Photo: Thomaz de Carvalho Callado · CC BY 4.0
Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo (Coccyzus longirostris)

Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo

Coccyzus longirostris

Medium100 gWoodland

The Hispaniolan lizard cuckoo is 41 to 46 cm (16 to 18 in) long, about half of which is the tail. Males weigh about 83 to 99 g (2.9 to 3.5 oz) and females about 92 to 128 g (3.2 to 4.5 oz). Both subspecies have a long straight bill with a black maxilla and a paler mandible. The sexes within a subspecies have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have entirely gray upperparts. Their wings are chestnut with a rufous patch. Their throat is rufous, the breast pale gray, and the belly rufous. Their tail is black, and the underside of the feathers have large white tips. Voice: The Hispaniolan lizard cuckoo's principal call is "attling, grating...in descending series". It also makes calls described as "a harsh 'tchk', a click, and a 'tick cwuh-h-h'."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dark-billed Cuckoo and Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo.