Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)

This secretive but spectacular species breeds in much of Texas but it didn't stay around and was probably an arriving migrant from wintering grounds in South America. Although generally considered monotypic the far western population differs in size and color and probably deserves recognition as a distinct subspecies. Populations are declining throughout the bird's range, especially in California where it no longer occurs in many of its former haunts. Unlike its European cousins, this species is not usually a brood parasite.