Common Cuckoo in California

Photos from upper Watsonville Slough, SCZ, at Ford Rd. willows, afternoon of 28 Sep 2012.

This cuckoo initially discovered by Lois Goldfrank on a trip led by Steve Gerow for the Santa Cruz Bird Club field trip early this morning.

The skittish cuckoo was refound numerous times, but most views were distant, and a scope was useful. The cuckoo was seen to catch and consume a huge caterpillar (next two shots). Unfortunately the focus is poor.

Also there is a flight shot as it just took off from perch, and a shot that shows the rump & primaries reasonably well.

This photo shows 6 primary tips behind tertials (actually 7, if you can the one just barely emerging from below tertials), but with a scope we could see that the two longest visible primaries were almost equal in length (one just 1 mm or so longer than the next), to we could actually see 7 or 8 primary tips in the field. Although the bird flew several times — classic Cuculus falcon-like shape in flight — I did not determine the color or pattern of underwing coverts. In the field the rump looked essentially unbarred, and therefore was the 'brightest' part of the upperparts.