Pearly-breasted Cuckoo

About the Pearly-breasted Cuckoo

The pearly-breasted cuckoo (Coccyzus euleri) is a species of bird in the tribe Phaenicophaeini, subfamily Cuculinae of the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and possibly Colombia and Panama.

The taxonomic history of the pearly-breasted cuckoo is complicated. For many years it was considered a subspecies of the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) due to confusion about the identity of a specimen collected on Sombrero Island in the Lesser Antilles. The specimen was originally described as a species with the binomial C. julieni. The identity of the South American birds bounced between that treatment and treatment as the yellow-billed subspecies before its current designation as C. euleri was settled in 1992.

The pearly-breasted cuckoo is monotypic. The pearly-breasted cuckoo is 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11 in) long, about half of which is the tail. Males weigh about 45 to 53 g (1.6 to 1.9 oz) and females about 54 to 61 g (1.9 to 2.2 oz). Their bill is stout and somewhat decurved. Its maxilla is brown to black with a yellow base and its mandible... Wikipedia →