Bird Guide

Great Lizard Cuckoo vs Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo

Great Lizard Cuckoo (Coccyzus merlini)

Great Lizard Cuckoo

Coccyzus merlini

Medium170 gForest

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

Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0
Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo (Coccyzus vieilloti)

Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo

Coccyzus vieilloti

Medium82 gWoodland

The Puerto Rican lizard cuckoo is 40 to 48 cm (16 to 19 in) long, about half of which is the tail. It has a long decurved bill with a black maxilla and a yellow mandible with a black tip. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have entirely gray-brown upperparts. Their throat and breast are gray and the belly and undertail coverts tawny. The upper surface of their tail is gray-brown and the underside gray brown darkening to black near the large white tips. Their eye is surrounded by bare red skin. Voice: The Puerto Rican lizard cuckoo's principal call is " a harsh series of ka-ka-ka-ka notes." The call is described in more detail as "an emphatic ka-ka-ka-ka of long duration gradually accelerating and becoming louder, sometimes with altered syllables at the end". The species also makes other calls likened to those of jays, crows, ravens, and doves.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight · CC BY 2.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Lizard Cuckoo and Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo.