Cuckoo Songs

Yesterday morning I went for a birding walk at Higbee Beach WMA in Cape May, my first one for this year. It was a great morning, and I saw quite a few birds. The highlight was this Black-billed Cuckoo sitting uncharacteristically out in plain sight, enjoying the morning sun after a rainy night. What drew me to this particular spot, though, was a very soft version of the bird's song, which you can hear at THIS site.

While studying the bird through my binoculars, and getting this picture, which is pretty good for my camera, I realized I was still hearing the song, and it wasn't coming from this bird. Another cuckoo was hidden somewhere nearby and singing very softly. While it's only a guess, I surmise this one in view is a female, and she was being serenaded by a male. The call was not the usual volume, and almost dovelike, but still the "cooc-cooc-cooc" of the species. Later it brought to mind ANOTHER Cuckoo song, the long-time theme of these particular cuckoos:

Okay, okay, I'll be quiet now, gentlemen. But if you compare the two songs, there's some slight similarity…I think.

(Another fine mess I've gotten myself into…)