A friend and I braved the rain and mosquitoes and roamed the depths of a local Forest Preserve,
birding binoculars in hand, in search of the elusive Black-billed Cuckoo. In addition to binoculars, we were also equipped with a call tape in the hopes that we would at least hear a response from a Black-billed. With all the recent rain, the foliage off the trail is almost impenetrable, so we felt our best chance, by far, was to hear a Black-billed. After three hours of hiking and searching, though, we came up empty - no sighting or calls - though we did hear quite a few of the Yellow-billed and we did have a good afternoon of birding with many other great species heard and sighted. For instance, it would be hard to say which was more beautiful, the Scarlet Tanager or the Indigo Bunting we saw at the edge of a clearing. Even with the cloud cover, the blue color of the Indigo was breathtaking in the
binoculars. The winner in the call category was the Wood Thrush, which serenaded us, constantly, for over twenty minutes. If you've never heard a Wood thrush, check the
All About Birds website and take a listen.