JUVENILE BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO , CRANBERRY MARSH, LYNDE SHORES CONSERVATION AREA, WHITBY, ONTARIO, 9/1/2023 - NEW LIFE SPECIES

   We can ID this bird as a juvenile Black-billed Cuckoo as follows:

• Large bird with a long tail.  We estimated the bird was about a foot long, which is the size of a Black-billed Cuckoo.
• Dark, slightly downcurved bill with a hooked tip on the upper mandible.
• Feet are zygodactyl, i.e. there are two toes in back and two toes in front.  In the photos you can see that the cuckoo has only two toes on one side of the limb on which it is perched.  Zydodactyl feet occur in cuckoos, parrots, woodpeckers and some owls.
• Narrow, yellowish orbital ring ( in the adult the orbital ring is red).
• Light yellowish, buffy throat.
• Whitish underparts.
• Grayish-brown upperparts.

   The Black-billed Cuckoo is a new species to our Photographic Life List.  Our ebird Life List now stands at 1,079.