Black-billed Cuckoo
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus (Wilson, A, 1811) (1, 2)
Photo © Rob Stonehouse
STATUS
Nearctic. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Records as per BOU (1971).
November 6th is still the latest record and 27th October is the fourth latest to date (2020), two others occurring on 30th October.
RECORD
1). 1932 Isles of Scilly Tresco, immature, picked up dead after hitting wall, 27th October, photo, now at Isles of Scilly Museum.
(G. C. Low, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 53: 77, 88-90, 97, 98; Eds., British Birds 27: 111-112; W. B. Alexander & R. S. R. Fitter, British Birds 48: 7; Penhallurick, 1978; C. Bradshaw, British Birds 96: 403; BOURC (2003), Ibis 145: 178-183; Flood, Hudson & Thomas, 2007: plate 85).
History G. Carmichael Low, Editor (1932) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. LIII. pp. 77-78, at the 359th Meeting of the Club held on 14th December 1932 at Pagani's Restaurant, London, says: 'Mr. A. M. Griffith [sic] exhibited an American Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus a. americanus), apparently a bird of the year, picked up dead in Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Oct. 27, 1932, and secured by Major A. A. Dorrien Smith. It had smashed the front of its skull against the wall of a shed.
This is the second of these Cuckoos obtained by Major Dorrien Smith in the Isles of Scilly, an adult having been shot early in November 1921 while sitting on a telegraph wire on St. Mary's Island by a man named Guy.'
G. Carmichael Low, Editor (1933) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. LIII. pp. 88-90, at the 360th Meeting of the Club held on 11th January 1933 at Pagani's Restaurant, London, says: 'Dr. P. R. Lowe contributed the following note on the supposed example of the American Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus a. americanus) exhibited by Mr. A. F. Griffith at the December meeting of the Club. He said at the last (December) meeting of the Club, Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited on behalf of Major A. A. Dorrien Smith (antea, p. 77) a bird which he had identified as the American Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus a. americanus), and which had been picked up dead on the Isles of Scilly. It was, as he said, an immature bird, and apparently either no one present at the meeting felt competent to confirm Mr. Griffith in his diagnosis or to refute it, or they took it for granted that the diagnosis had been confirmed.
Since the meeting Major Dorrien Smith has asked Messrs. Pratt & Sons, of Brighton, who had temporarily mounted the bird, to send it to the British Museum for further examination.
I have carefully compared it with the material available in the Museum, and the conclusion I have come to is that it is an example of the Black-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus erythropthalmus (Wilson).
The specimen in question shows undoubted signs of being an immature bird in the pale edgings to its primaries, wing-coverts, tail-coverts, and feathers of the dorsum: (1) It has the smaller bill of the Black-billed Cuckoo, but the size of the bill is an unreliable character. (2) The tail-feathers are only just tipped whitish, and on close inspection show on the under surface a ghost-like and sub-terminal band of darkish, which in the more saturated condition is so characteristic of the adult Black-billed Cuckoo.
Moreover, as in the adult the rest of the under surface of the feather is light grey, whereas in the Yellow-billed Cuckoo it is black, or nearly black. In the last-mentioned species, also, the three outer tail-feathers terminate in large and very conspicuous sub-ovate patches of white, and there are no subterminal dark bands. In neither species are the two central feathers edged with white, but in C. americanus the next outlying pair is very narrowly edged with white, while in C. erythropthalmus all four outer pairs have white tips, which increase in width as we proceed outwards.
There are differences in the two species in the adult stage as regards the depth of the rufous colouring of both webs of the remiges, as well as of the under wing-coverts and axillaries, but in the present stage of our knowledge I think this an unreliable character to go by.
For example, in C. americanus both webs of the remiges are a bright cinnamon rufous. In C. erythropthalmus the red tinge has nearly disappeared, but there are all sorts of intermediate phases correlated with age....I find that in a half-grown juvenile specimen of C. erythropthalmus (British Museum Collection, Reg. no. 1906, 12.7.177) - which I exhibit - the colour-pattern exactly corresponds with the normal adult specimens, and also with the one in question, so that this renders it certain that the specimen in dispute is an example of the Black-billed Cuckoo....'
Further, p. 97, in a Letter, he adds: 'Mr. H. F. Witherby writes: - "I think Mr. T. H. McKittrick Junr. should be given the credit in the Bulletin for having raised the point that Mr. A. F. Griffith's Cuckoo had been wrongly identified, as it was through him that the bird was submitted to the British Museum to be compared".
Also, in another Letter, he adds: "Mr. B. G. Harrison also writes pointing out that Mr. P. F. Bunyard, at the meeting at which Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited the Cuckoo, had considered the bird a Black-billed and not a Yellow-billed Cuckoo".'
In an Editorial (1933) in British Birds, Vol. XXVII. pp. 111-112, they say: 'Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club in December, 1932, an American Cuckoo, which he described as the Yellow-billed, but at the next meeting Dr. P. R. Lowe showed that the bird was an undoubted Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus). The tail-feathers alone were distinctive of that species, being grey with faint sub-terminal darkish band and small white tips.
The bird, which was apparently immature, was picked up dead at Tresco, Isles of Scilly, on October 27th, 1932. It had been killed by striking the wall of a shed.
There is only one previous record of the occurrence of this species in the British Islands, viz., Antrim, Ireland, Sept. 25th, 1871, though the Yellow-billed has occurred ten times in England (including once at Scilly), once in Scotland and twice in Ireland.'
Comment The specimen is now in the Isles of Scilly Museum.
1950-57 RECORDS
2). 1950 Argyll Achnaslishaig Hill, Southend, Kintyre, first-winter, 6th November, found dead, 8th November, now at Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow (GLAMG Z.1950.132).
(C. E. Palmar & T. Robertson, Scottish Naturalist 63: 131-132; W. B. Alexander & R. S. R. Fitter, British Birds 48: 7; Thom, 1986; Forrester & Andrews et al., 2007).
History C. E. Palmar & T. Robertson (1951) in the Scottish Naturalist, Vol. LXIII. pp. 131-132, says: 'On 6th November 1950 two shepherds near Southend, Kintyre, were attracted by a flock of birds, which were circling in a peculiar manner. They were unable to identify the species, but were sure that the birds were not newly arrived Fieldfares or Redwings. One of the men, John Harvey of Gartnacopaig, saw them again next day and on the following day (8th November) he found a dead bird. He is positive that the flock was composed of birds similar to the one which he picked up on the east side of Achnaslishaig Hill.
The dead bird was passed to Mr J. Greenlees, who was unable to make anything of it and who in turn sent it up to Glasgow. After study of the Handbook we tentatively identified the specimen as a Black-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus erythropthalmus in immature plumage.
The skin was sent to the British Museum, where Mr J. D. Macdonald very kindly confirmed the identification, adding that it appeared to be in first winter plumage. There are only two previous records admitted in the Handbook. This is the first for Scotland. The skin is now preserved in the Museum and Art Gallery at Kelvingrove, Glasgow.'
[This bird, in first-winter plumage, retains the juvenile wing and tail feathers; it therefore lacks the characters which serve best to distinguish (in preserved skins) between the adults of the Black-billed Cuckoo, and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus. The specimen is also slightly imperfect, as a result of its condition when received. Through the kindness of Mr Palmar we have been able to examine it.... - Editors.]
3). 1953 Shetland Foula, picked up exhausted, 11th October, died 12th October, now at Natural History Museum, Tring (BMNH 1953.69.1).
(K. Williamson, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Bulletin 2: 8-9; R. W. Sims, Scottish Naturalist 65: 196; K. Williamson, Scottish Naturalist 66: 16-17; R. W. Sims, British Birds 47: 173-174; W. B. Alexander & R. S. R. Fitter, British Birds 48: 7; E. V. Baxter, Scottish Naturalist 67: 102; E. E. Jackson, Scottish Birds 4: 43; Thom, 1986; Forrester & Andrews et al., 2007).
History K. Williamson (1953) in the Fair Isle Bird Observatory Bulletin, Vol. II. pp. 8-9, says: 'The example of the Black-billed Cuckoo was found dead on the island of Foula, Shetland, by Mrs. D. M. Gear, on October 12th. It was identified at the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), where the specimen is kept.'
R. W. Sims (1953) in the Scottish Naturalist Vol. LXV. p. 196, says: 'An unfamiliar bird was found by Mrs. D. M. Gear on Foula, Shetland, on 11th October 1953; it was in an exhausted condition and died on the following day. The specimen was sent to the British Museum (Natural History), where I was able to identify it as the Black-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, a bird which is normally confined to the New World....The specimen has been added to the National Collection.'
R. W. Sims (1954) in British Birds, Vol. XLVII. pp. 173-174, says: 'On October 11th, 1953, an unfamiliar bird was found by Mrs. D. M. Gear on Foula, Shetland; it was in an exhausted condition and died on the following day.
The specimen was sent to the British Museum (Natural History), where it is now preserved (B. M. Reg. No. 1953.69.1) and where it was identified as a Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythrophthalmus).
This is the second Scottish (for the first vide Scot. Nat., Vol. LXIII. p. 121) and the fourth British record of this species which has occurred elsewhere in Europe, in France and Italy.
Fuller details of this occurrence are given in The Scottish Naturalist, Vol. LXV. p. 196.'
NOT PROVEN
