Appearance

The Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo is a medium-sized bird with gray-brown upperparts and a whitish gray chin and breast abutted by chestnut on the abdomen and undertail coverts. The lizard-cuckoo has a slightly decurved bill and bright red skin surrounds the eye. A long black and white tail makes up more than one-half of the total body length (Wetmore 1927).

Mangrove (Coccyzus minor) and Yellow-billed (Coccyzus americanus) cuckoos also occur in Puerto Rico. Though decurved, the straighter bill and bi-colored underparts distinguish the lizard-cuckoo from other cuckoos occurring on Puerto Rico such as the Mangrove or Yellow-billed (Bond 1971). Yellow-billed Cuckoos are common breeding residents from May-August, while Mangrove Cuckoos are fairly common year-round (Raffaele et al. 1998). The latter also are  buff-colored on the underparts with no stark separation of color between the abdomen and throat, unlike the lizard-cuckoo, and have a thick black eyeline continuing into an ear patch. Yellow-billed and Mangrove cuckoos are considerably smaller than the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo at about 26-32 cm in length, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos have completely white underparts.

Adult:

Sexes similar. Upperparts are plain gray-brown, with gray on the throat and breast and a moderately stark contrast to tawny underparts on the abdomen and undertail coverts (Raffaele et al. 1998). A long tail makes up more than one-half of the total body length at 38-40.5 cm (15-16 in; Wetmore 1927). The tail is graduated; the dorsal side of the rectrices are the gray-brown of the upperparts, while the underside of the tail’s rectrices are gray faded to black with large white tips, giving the illusion of alternating black and white stripes when the tail is not fanned. The eye is surrounded by a ring of bright red skin. The bill is slightly decurved, black on the maxilla, and yellow at the base of the mandible.

Juvenile:

Immature lizard-cuckoos are similar to adults except for a cinnamon, rather than gray, wash on the breast (Raffaele et al. 1998). Underside of rectrices more brownish with less intense black bands; bill shorter, and more uniformly colored brown; and eye ring less extensive and orange-red (J. Toms, personal commication).

Preliminary molt data from Guánica Dry Forest is available from 11 months (October 2008-September 2009, excluding August; J. Toms, unpublished data). Variable numbers of Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoos were caught in mist nets throughout the year (none caught October-December and July, 8 caught in January, and 1-4 caught for the remainder of the year; J. Toms, unpublished data). Rectrix molt was first seen in June and continued through January, excluding one juvenile which was seen molting rectrices in April (J. Toms, unpublished data). It is not clear whether molt is sporadic, or focused later in the year. Remiges were clearly molted only in September, so molt may occur in the late summer and fall (J. Toms, unpublished data). Body molt was seen during several months of the year, but also appeared to occur most in the late summer through early winter (January; J. Toms, unpublished data). These data may differ from other parts of the island that have a less seasonal climate.

Iris brown. Red bare skin rings the eye (orange-red in juveniles).

Maxilla black; mandible yellow basally, darkening to black near the tip.

Tarsi and toes are gray.

Total length: 40-48 cm (Raffaele et al. 1998)