One of the birds I look forward to seeing and hearing each year is the yellow-billed cuckoo.  During the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of hearing yellow-billed cuckoos on at least six occasions.  However, only once did I hear it in my backyard.

       These fairly large birds (10.5–12.6 inches long) prefer to live in hardwood forests.  Here they are more often heard than seen.  If you have never seen the bird, there is a chance you have heard it and did not realize what was making the odd call.  Although the bird has several calls, the one easiest to identify is the knocking call (it sounds like something knocking on a piece of hollow wood).  You can hear it and other calls made by this secretive bird at audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-billed-cuckoo.  Once you listen to it, you will find it easy to remember.

       The yellow-billed cuckoo has many fascinating habits.  One of them is it is extremely fond of caterpillars.  In fact, it is one of the few birds that will regularly dine of caterpillars cloaked in prickly spines.

       Yellow-billed cuckoos love eating tent caterpillars.  A single yellow-billed cuckoo can eat 100 or more caterpillars at one time.

       Now is a great time to look and listen for this fascinating backyard neighbor.   Good luck!