Going Cuckoo

There’s a rare bird alert at the Wild Bird Fund

By Jen Jie Li

photo: Fred Cohen

On September 9, Sarah found an adult Yellow-billed Cuckoo on the sidewalk of 44th Street between Lexington and Third Avenue. The cuckoo was cowering and unable to fly, so Sarah brought it to the Wild Bird Fund. The cuckoo had an injured right wing and broken collarbone.

The Wild Bird Fund prescribed two weeks of peaceful “cage rest” for the cuckoo – who the WBF named Sarah, after it’s rescuer – but Sarah had her own ideas. Sarah took an instant dislike to that “other bird” in the mirror and engaged in fierce pecking battles with its reflection – leading the the rehabbers to suspect that Sarah was a boy.

photo: Fred Cohen

Sarah also refused to eat the food given to him in his cage, so he had to be hand-fed to be kept from starving. Sarah was not a happy bird. Before the two weeks were up, however, this brave cuckoo was eating blueberries and mealworms on its own, flying short distances, and darting out of its cage at every opportunity. After making a full recovery, Sarah was released in Central Park.

A Wild Bird Fund volunteer feeds Sarah with FONS formula for insectivores through a tube and syringe. photo: Jen Jie Li

About the Yellow-billed Cuckoo

• Cuckoos are a rare sighting in Manhattan.
• Yellow-billed Cuckoos prefer to live in open woodland areas with clearings and scrubby vegetation along the water.
• Although still prevalent in the eastern part of the US, the Cuckoo’s population in the West has dropped drastically in the last century.
• The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is listed as endangered in California.
• The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is also known as the Rain Crow because its calls are heard more often on cloudy days.
• Have you heard the Yellow-billed Cuckoo?

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