[va-bird] Re: Yellow Billed Cuckoos

Lynda,

Beautiful shot of your life Yellow-billed Cuckoo. You couldn't have better avian friends than cuckoos if you have bagworms. Yellow-billed Cuckoo's diet consists mostly of larger insects, many of which are pests of our trees and ornamental plants. They like the hairy or spiny caterpillars that lots of other birds can't handle, like eastern tent caterpillar and larva of gypsy moths. They also eat fall webworm, periodic and annual cicadas, katydids, grasshoppers, crickets Colorado potato beetles, stink bugs, assassin bugs, sawfly larva (scourge in my yard), fly larva, ants, and daddy longlegs. BT is generally considered safe for birds and other animals, but it is toxic to all caterpillars, including those of butterflies. I hope your cuckoo hangs around and invites friends.

Paula Sullivan
Alexandria

On Jul 20, 2006, at 3:31 PM, Lynda Blair wrote:
.... I checked my books and it was indeed a Yellow Billed Cuckoo. I truly hope I haven't mis-identified this :) I've never seen one before...I think they were after the bagworms in the Cypress. The trees are being destroyed by bagworm and we were preparing to spray with BT this coming weekend.....


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