Category Archives: Cuckoos

Black-billed Cuckoo at the Milwaukee County Grounds in Milwaukee County Wisconsin on May 26, 2025

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The County Grounds in Milwaukee County has had a handful of Cuckoos this past week both Yellow-billed and Black-billed. My visit there this time focused on the Black-billed Cuckoo. Like always, these birds are hard to find in the open without sticks or branches in front of them or even just finding them as they are elusive. Many times they are right in front of you and you just don’t know it until they fly off. I did get a couple of images of this cool species. It was a sunny/cloudy morning with mild temps around 50 degrees, and light winds. Images were taken on May 26, 2025.

The Black-billed Cuckoo, always looking for its next bite to eat…

Perched in a bush looking…

Going for a caterpillar…

In this tree was one place to find the cuckoos…

On these old plant canes was a place the cuckoos found caterpillars…

Yellow-billed Cuckoo at the Milwaukee County Grounds in Milwaukee County Wisconsin on May 22, 2025

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There had been some reports of Cuckoos at the Milwaukee County Grounds so I decided to put that on one of my early birding stops for the day. When I arrived there was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo right in a tree near the parking lot. It was about 100 feet away getting out of my car. It was feeding on scrub brush getting a caterpillar on occasion while I was there. It was still early and cloudy too but I was able to get one photo of a species I only see once a year in spring if I’m lucky. I looked for a a while and found a Black-billed Cuckoo but that bird was far away perched in a tree that held a lot of branches so it was a bird to look at with bins, but still cool too. It was overcast, breeze out of the east and temps around 46 degrees. Images were taken on May 22, 2025.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo…

Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Lake Park in Milwaukee Wisconsin on June 2, 2020

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The highlight of the day while birding Lake Park in Milwaukee was this Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It gave nice views while moving about in some mid size trees. This photo was taken near the statue on the south end of the park. I had a Black-billed Cuckoo a couple days before this in a ravine near the statue too, but was too far away for a decent photo. A beautiful day, mostly sunny and mild temps. Images were taken on June 2, 2020.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo

As it moved from one tree to another…

The Black-billed and Yellow-billed Cuckoos at Wehr Nature Center in Franklin Wisconsin on May 27, 2017

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A Black-bill Cuckoo was reported at Wehr Nature Center in Greenfield Wisconsin on and off the last week or so. This morning I gave it a shot to try to see this bird that has avoided me since I have started birding in 2009. After a good walk around the nature center grounds, coming to full circle, I spotted a Black-billed Cuckoo near the nature center entrance, what a beautiful bird, finally! The bird dropped down from a branch perched about 10 feet off the ground and appeared to feed on something, doing this action twice. The bird hung around for a few minutes but then left the viewing area. A while later while, Bruce joined me at that  parking lot and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew into the area and perched in front of us. That bird also perched and feed, but moved out of the area to the prairie area. Then Janet and Jeanine joined me after I texted them as they were looking for these species in a different area at the nature center, they also wanted this species on their life list. Once in the prairie area, both cuckoos showed  and were present at the same time, in fact at one time they both appeared to land in the same square foot in a grassy area. From there they moved down the hill to the south giving great views as they feed and perched, what cuckoos do. We kept a distance to just enjoy the great views and captured a few images to share. All and all, a fun morning for all present! Images were taken on May 27, 2017.

Black-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo