Order C/UCUUP 



ormes 



Cuckoos: Family Cuculidae 



California Cuckoo: 



Coccyzus americanus occidentalis Ridgway 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Upper parts grayish brown, with faint green gloss; under 

 parts white, grayish across chest; lower half of bill mainly yellow; side of head with 

 blackish streak; tail graduated, middle feathers like back, tipped with black, the 

 rest blue black, with broad white thumb marks on tips; wing quills mainly rugous on 

 inner webs. Young: like adults, but tail duller, without blue, and white not 

 strikingly contrasted with brown. Length: 11.3013.50, wing 5.50-6.00, tail 6.10- 

 6.90, bill 1.01-1.08, depth of bill through base .37-. 40." (Bailey) Nest: A flimsy 

 platform of twigs, sometimes scantily lined with bits of finer vegetation. Eggs: 3 

 to 4, light greenish blue. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from British Columbia south to Lower California 

 and inland to Colorado and Texas. Winters in an unknown territory southward. 

 In Oregon: Rare summer resident, most abundant west of Cascades but recorded 

 sparingly from eastern Oregon. 



THE CALIFORNIA CUCKOO, the western representative of the familiar 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, is not a common bird anywhere in Oregon. In 

 our own experience, as well as in that of others, it is most abundant in 

 the willow bottoms of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers but is rather 

 erratic, appearing to be more common some seasons than others. Our 

 earliest date is May 19, and our latest September 5, both Multnomah 

 County; but the notes and specimens are too few to use as a basis for 

 any definite statement regarding arrival and departure dates. Townsend 

 (1839) listed it from the territory of Oregon, and Prill (i89ig) recorded 

 eggs on November 7, 1891, from Sweet Home. Johnson (1880) considered 

 it rare in the Willamette Valley, as did Anthony (Bailey 1901), Wood- 

 cock (1901), and Shelton (1917). During 192.3, 192.4* an< ^ I 9 2 -5' we found 

 it to be a fairly common bird along the Columbia. We observed at least 

 a dozen birds on June 8, 192.3, and obtained many other records and 

 specimens during each of the three seasons. Since then our records have 

 been rather sporadic. 



It is a rare bird in eastern Oregon, only three records being available 

 to us up to the present time. Bendire (1877) wrote as follows: 



August i, 1876, camping under a clump of willow bushes near Keeney's Ferry, on the Oregon 

 side of the Snake River, I found a nest of this species containing half grown young birds. 



