Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2024 is  “Protect Insects, Protect Birds”—highlighting the importance of protecting insects for birds and our environment. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy learning about and celebrating nature!

Endemic Bird of the Day: Great Lizard-Cuckoo

Meet one of the Caribbeans avian rock stars – the Great-lizard Cuckoo! This eye-catching bird calls Cuba and The Bahamas its home.

Now, picture this: a big ol’ lizard cuckoo doing its thing on the islands of Andros and Eleuthera in The Bahamas, and chillaxin in Cuba, rocking the same vibe on different islands. They even have their own fancy scientific sub-species names, “Coccyzus merlini bahamensis” in the Bahamas and “C. m. merlini“, “C. m. santamariae” and “C. m. decolor” in Cuba ! Sounds like a bird version of Hogwarts houses, doesn’t it?

It was once also found on New Providence in The Bahamas, but was extirpated with the last one being seen in the Retreat Gardens National Park in the early 2000’s. Historically, the Great-lizard Cuckoo was found on Long Island, indicating a broader distribution across the islands of the Great Bahama Bank. Remains of the species have also been found on Middle Caicos, in TCI.

These birds are hyper- carnivores, munching on lizards, insects, nestling birds and eggs, snails, centipedes, and even wasp larvae. In Cuba, their palate is similar but also includes small fruits.

But here’s the scoop: the Great-lizard Cuckoo in The Bahamas is living the island life on only two islands. Talk about exclusive! Sadly, their population is playing hard to get – nobody’s really counted or studied their population, but the rumour is it’s going down.

Now, let’s talk fashion. These cuckoos have the whole olive-brown upperparts, white or greyish throat, and a rufous belly thing going on. It’s like they stepped out of a bird fashion magazine. And their vocals? A throaty “Ka ka, kaaaa, ka ka ka ka ka” and a “ta-coooo” that’s the bird equivalent of beatboxing.

Love is in the air during breeding season, but details are sketchy in The Bahamas – it’s like they’re keeping it a secret. In Cuba, it’s a different story; they’re throwing bird parties between April and October, laying a couple of white eggs in twiggy nests.

But, oh no, the Great-lizard Cuckoo’s got some drama. Habitat loss, sneaky predators like house cats and raccoons, and playing real-life Frogger with cars are their arch-nemeses in The Bahamas. These birds aren’t jet-setters; they prefer the quiet life in forests and scrub habitats. But wait, development on Eleuthera is cramping their style. We need some serious bird bodyguards and habitat protection to keep the party alive!

So, here’s the deal – let’s make sure the Great-lizard Cuckoos keep strutting their stuff in the region. Conservation and habitat protection can greatly assist the survival of this amazing species. Let’s give them the support they need, ’cause nobody wants to live in a world without these Caribbean icons.

Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here. Great news! If you’re in the Caribbean, thanks to BirdsCaribbean, you have free access to Birds of the World and you can find out even more in the full species account of this bird!

Thanks to Arnaldo Toledo for the illustration and Scott Johnson for the text!

Colour in the Great Lizard-Cuckoo

Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest

Listen to the calls of the Great Lizard-Cuckoo

The calls of Great Lizard-Cuckoo are a loud, long, ratcheting “eh-eh-eh…”

Puzzle of the Day

Click on the image below to do the puzzle.  You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8,  or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!

Activity of the Day

FOR KIDS : Get active with your family and friends with our fun chick feeding game!  We want you to imagine you are a busy Great Lizard-Cuckoo with a hungry brood of chicks to feed! It will take some speed and dexterity to help provide food for your baby birds. Download the instructions here.

We would love to see photos and/or videos of you and your family playing the game. You may email them to Aliya.Hosein@birdscaribbean.org

Please note that by submitting your photos and/or video you give BirdsCaribbean consent to use your photos and/or videos on our website and social media accounts.

FOR KIDS AND ADULTS : Enjoy this video of a Great Lizard-Cuckoo in the wild!