Check out Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoo.

Bob Tarte wrote:
> Hello, wise birders,
> 
> This morning I heard a bird call I could not identify.
> 
> We live in West Michigan. Our house is about 500 feet from the Grand
> River. While putting out food and water for our ducks, I heard an
> unusual call from the direction of the river. Here's a description:
> 
> 1) Oot, oot, oot, oot, oot, oot, oot. 
> 2) There was a series of seven or eight "oot"s just a little faster
> than one per second, then a pause of perhaps 20 seconds before the next
> series.
> 3) The tone and timber were close to that of a Mourning Dove coo, but
> the notes were short and ended sharply.
> 4) There was no raspiness or quaver to the notes.
> 
> I walked  down to the river to try to find the bird, but when I got to
> the river bank, the bird was behind me in the woods. I walked to about
> where the sound was, and it seemed to be coming from a tree. I heard
> the calls off and on from 7-8:30 am.
> 
> A friend of mine told me that it's probably a Green Heron, but nothing
> on my Peterson bird song CD sounds exactly like this. (Although it
> could have been a variation that didn't make in on the CD.) The Green
> Heron's alarm call is too fast, and it doesn't seem possible that a
> bird would repeat an alarm call off and on for over an hour and a half.
> 
> Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks so much for your help.
> 


-- 
Maurice Barnhill
mvb@udel.edu [not bellatlantic.net]
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716