Nov 10th Yellow-billed Cuckoo

A Yellow-billed Cuckoo was photographed by a Coronado homeowner in their yard on 10 November. The bird is standing on the ground on their patio, so almost certainly was the victim of a window strike. It’s future beyond when photographed is uncertain. The photo came to light only today via Lisa H. and Elizabeth C. This is now the latest record for San Diego County, with one bird succumbing to a window strike in Carmel Valley on 18 Oct 2020. Elsewhere in California, there is also at least a late October record from Sonoma County and an early November record for San Luis Obispo County. Back on the East Coast, there are a small number of early November records involving likely reverse migrants coming north on southerly air flow, but such late-season records out here in the West seem even more unusual. These late-season cuckoos here may well involve birds originating from much farther east.

–Paul Lehman, San Diego