March 31:
Our Easter Sunday present was our first-ever sighting of a black-billed cuckoo. It was seen at about 08:30 h in Brampton as we walked N through the south end of Nuffield Park, just past the little circle with benches where the ladies usually sit and chat in their saris on mornings when the warmer weather comes.
Anita noticed it was not a robin – it was slim and long bodied, slim necked, with a long bill and a beige breast. Perched high in a tree it sang:
cu cu cu – cu cu cu cu – cu cu cu
“I’m a bird – but you know that – don’t you, now”
(My original way of remembering the “cadence of the cu’s”)
I’ve recorded it on the My Birds page.
Happy Easter!
P.S. If I’m wrong, or if you have a more likely fit for what we observed, let me know.
mightyturk 