ML463419931

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, initially found earlier in the day by Chris dean, was here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 28 June 2022 at Piute Ponds, Edwards Air Force Base, Los Angeles County, California.

Observation details

After some searching, we initially saw the cuckoo flying west along the road before landing in a willow on the south side of the road just west of Parking Lot 1. We then studied the bird for a short time as if moved about the middle to upper branches of the willow before moving out of view. When we then walked up to the tree and saw the cuckoo fly out the back, headed to the southeast before landing in another willow immediately south of the large cottonwood opposite Parking Lot 1. Although I saw the bird in flight, I never did see it in this tree before it vanished. I never did hear this bird vocalize. This was a slim bird of medium size that appeared superficially like a slim dove. When seen in flight, the cuckoo appeared to be about the size of a grackle with a slim body, a conspicuously long tail, and a direct flight with somewhat floppy wing-beats and what appeared to be long wings that tapered to pointed tips. The perched bird was always partially obscured, but I was nevertheless able to get a reasonable impression of the bird's structure. The bill was of medium length, probably extending back to a point near the rear edge of the auriculars, though I failed to notice this precisely in the field. The bill tapered from a base of medium depth to a blunt tip along a culmen that was noticeably deserved. The forehead had a weakly sloped appearance and the crown was gently rounded to somewhat flattened. The head was of unremarkable size, the neck was relatively long and slim, and the body was both slim and elongate. The wings appeared to be relatively long with the wingtip conspicuously tapered, but I was unable to determine the primary projection or how many primary tips were visible beyond the longest secondary. The wingtip appeared to fall right about at the tips of the long, tapered undertail-coverts. The tail appeared to be longer than the head, neck, and body combined. It was also slim, parallel-sided, and strongly graduated, with the outer feathers probably more than half as long as the central pair, but I was unable to determine the shape at the tip. I cannot recall ever clearly seeing the legs or feet. My views of the plumage patterns where obscured by the vegetation, but I was still able to see most of the key details. As far as I could determine, the crown. back, and wings were dark brown, but seemingly tending more toward grayish-brown as opposed to rufous. My views of the middle part of the wing were not very good, so I never saw any rufous in the primaries, but the tapered wingtip was a cold brown without obvious rufous. The face was darker than the crown, and thus having a weakly masked appearance, but I had a hard time seeing the details of the mask. The lower edge of the mask was sharply demarcated from the white throat and along a line that I thought most likely extended back from the gape along the lower edges of the moustachial and auricular regions, though I cannot recall noting this precisely in the field. I did not see breast, upper belly, sides, or flanks well, but the throat, lower belly, and undertail covers were white and unmarked. The underside of the tail contrasted black bases to the restricts with large and seemingly rectangular tips of white thar may have had rounded corners at the tips. I thought I saw about three pairs of white spots on the underside of the tail, but my only impression of the underside of the tail was that it was dark. The upper mandible was mostly black, but I thought the cutting edge was narrowly yellow. By contrast, the lower mandible was mostly, if not entirely, bright yellow. The eyes were dark, but I was unable to make out their precise color, and I was likewise unable to discern an orbital ring. As noted above, I have no recollection of clearly seeing the legs or feet.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

500

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Original file size

7.83 MB