Included in that list was the pheasant cuckoo found in scattered locations in various parts of Latin America. One of the areas where this cuckoo hangs out is on the Yucatan Peninsula of Eastern Mexico. Last year, armed with a tape of this bird's song and as much information as we could amass from our birder friends, we had launched the best attack we could to uncover this most elusive bird. But before I continue, here's a little background information. The cuckoo family is large and diverse.
Members often bear little similarity to each other.
In Central and South America, some cuckoos are even more bizarre in both behavior and looks. The mostly chestnut squirrel cuckoo, however, is a majestic bird, especially when he makes a long glide from one tree into another. The bird that gave the whole family its name with its cuckoo-clock call lives in Europe, Africa and Asia. Cuckoos are, in fact, found on all continents except Antarctica. Most of them, by the way, are parasitic, meaning that they lay their eggs in other birds' nests the way cowbirds do.