Black-billed Cuckoo Archives - Window to Wildlife

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…

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.