Black-billed Cuckoo
An extremely rare breeding species in the piedmont and coastal plain areas of Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states. Nonetheless, a breeding pair of these cuckoos was found this spring at a regenerating clearcut down the road from my house; not long after, their nest was discovered in a young deciduous grove. When I arrived at the location, I was treated to the song of both the black-billed and yeIIow-biIIed cuckoos at once. No cuckoos were incubating the nest at the time, but a parent called loudly from a few feet away, trying to ward me off. I tried using various different camera angles to capture the bird, but none showed the head unobscured, so I ended up shooting from near ground level, but pointing the lens directly upward.
Black-billed Cuckoo
An extremely rare breeding species in the piedmont and coastal plain areas of Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states. Nonetheless, a breeding pair of these cuckoos was found this spring at a regenerating clearcut down the road from my house; not long after, their nest was discovered in a young deciduous grove. When I arrived at the location, I was treated to the song of both the black-billed and yeIIow-biIIed cuckoos at once. No cuckoos were incubating the nest at the time, but a parent called loudly from a few feet away, trying to ward me off. I tried using various different camera angles to capture the bird, but none showed the head unobscured, so I ended up shooting from near ground level, but pointing the lens directly upward.