Bird

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Coccyzus americanus

A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in all 100 counties, across 17 habitats.

Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 17

Hand-coloured plate of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo by Mark Catesby, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Vol. 1, plate 9 — **Illustration**. Mark Catesby. Public domain (no known copyright restrictions). The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Vol. 1, plate 9. Plant on the plate: The Chinkapin (Castanea pumila).

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 17
Habitat models: Summer

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in North Carolina 17

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 17

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large FloodplainNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)*Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70*, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampNamed place / source context. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretationView, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Summer

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

Summer

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Seeps and springs

Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine ModifierNamed place / source context. Shown: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Georgia, a neighboring state.Trail on Little Kennesaw Mountain., Unidentified in HFC record, undated. Public domain. Source record.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Southern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpointCove hardwood forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric; Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Hardwood Modifier; Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest; Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Disturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Maritime forests and thickets

Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest

Moderately dry forests

Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest

Moist forests

Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Southern Piedmont Mesic Forest; Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest

Northern hardwood forests

High mountain forests of beech, yellow birch and sugar maple, including boulderfield forests.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.

Tree plantations and managed pine

Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.

SummerOnly within 120 m of water.Deciduous Plantation; Evergreen Plantation or Managed Pine; Managed Tree Plantation

Other habitats in its models (108)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.

In North Carolina 1

Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.

Elsewhere in the South (64)

Appalachian Shale Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Maritime Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer.
East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Summer.
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer.
Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer.
Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer.
Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer.
South Florida Cypress Dome Summer.
South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer.
South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Cypress Dome Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer.

Northeast (9)

Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.

Midwest (6)

North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer, only within 120 m of water.
North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer, only within 120 m of water.
North-Central Oak Barrens Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer, only within 120 m of water.

Land cover and other classes (28)

Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer.
Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer, only within 120 m of water.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Summer: nests here, in all 100 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo uses many habitats in North Carolina; these are its 3 most characteristic.