While heading to Pennal Gulch this afternoon, I head the loud “coo” call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo coming from a patch of willows on the west side of Hwy 93. I was already on the Pennal Gulch access loop off the highway, so I pulled around and got back on the highway in hopes of finding a place to pull off and check out the trees. No pull-offs plus signage that one is not supposed to park anywhere along the highway kept me from searching the trees, although I did pull to the side for a couple of minutes to scan the dense patch. Unfortunately, cuckoos are good at hiding and I had no luck spotting it. It’s possible, too, that it flew while I was getting turned around.
A Yellow-billed Cuckoo hung out at Pennal Gulch for a couple of weeks back in the latter half of June in 2000. Most migrant sightings reported on eBird have been in June. It would be worth checking this area to see if the cuckoo stops for a while, although access in to Pennal Gulch is somewhat hampered by high water.
Wendy McCradyChallis, ID