Yellow-billed Cuckoo

How to find it

Check woody lowland growth and forest edges near water, and scan shaded perches for a bird sitting very still. Scan dense foliage and wait for movement, because it is easy to lose. Watch for the white tail spots. In October on the southern Caribbean coast one guide found a Yellow-billed Cuckoo on a roadside cable, and a second bird swooped past. In late September in the Central Valley one was seen near a fruiting fig and shade coffee where migrant flycatchers and sparrows were feeding.

How to recognise it

Adults are warm brown above and clean whitish below. Look for these marks:

A blackish face mask and a yellow eye-ring.

A slightly down-curved bill with yellow at the base of the lower half.

Reddish primary flight feathers, with cinnamon showing on the wings in flight.

A long tail that is boldly black and white underneath.

The bird is about 12 inches (30 cm) long, robin-sized but slender. In flight the clearest feature is a double row of large white spots under the tail, and those bold spots are often the easiest thing to see.

What it sounds like

Recording: cuihenggang, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This is a stealthy hunter. It often sits perfectly still on a shaded perch and hunches its shoulders to hide its white underparts. It waits for prey to move, then pounces.

When disturbed it keeps its body low and slips quietly along branches into the leaves. It migrates at night, which makes it vulnerable to collisions with tall buildings and towers.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives in the lowlands, in semi-open shrubby areas, light woodland and forest edges near water. Wintering birds generally use woody lowland vegetation close to fresh water.

In Costa Rica it is most numerous on the lower Pacific slope. The main wintering area is Guanacaste, and occasionally the Osa Peninsula. On migration it has also turned up in beach scrub in the far southeast and in the Central Valley.

When to see it

Birds pass through from mid-August to early November, and again from late April to early June. Costa Rican sources describe fall migration as rare to fairly common and spring migration as uncommon to rare, and a few birds stay the winter.

Similar birds

It looks much like the Black-billed Cuckoo, which is also a migrant in Costa Rica. The yellow lower bill, the yellow eye-ring and the reddish wing edges help separate the two. The Mangrove Cuckoo has a black mask and an off-white belly, and it is secretive and local in mangroves.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Spanish names seen for this bird include Cuclillo Piquigualdo (the AOCR name), Cuclillo Pico Amarillo and Cuclillo Piquiamarillo.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list (AOCR) marks it as M, a migrant that does not breed here, and it is rare and local in the nonbreeding season.

Photography tips

Scan dense foliage and wait for movement. A leafy spot with caterpillars may pay off with patience, since the bird sits motionless on a hidden perch. In flight, aim for the double row of large white spots under the tail.