If you’re one of the many people hiking though Alabama’s forests this summer, you may want to look for the yellow-billed cuckoo.

Good luck.

Yellow-billed cuckoos tend to hide, high up in the trees in thick woodlands around the state.

Though the birds are known for their distinctive yellow beaks, you might see them in a tree by spotting their long gray tail with white spots on the bottom, or their gray wings tinged with red.

Or you might hear them before you see them: yellow-billed cuckoos are often called the “rain crow,” as people say they hear their call before it rains or on cloudy days.

“They’re elusive birds that we really do need to pay attention to,” said Emma Rhodes, co-founder of Banding Coalition of the Americas, a migratory bird research and conservation group.

The yellow-billed cuckoo has remained somewhat of a mystery even to scientists, Rhodes told AL.com. Because they are so secretive, scientists still don’t fully understand their migration patterns nor their nesting habits.

Famously, common cuckoo birds (the kind you might see immortalized on a clock) lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, forcing other birds to raise their young. Yellow-billed cuckoos sometimes do the same, but they will also form their own nests. Rhodes said scientists don’t know why they are so unpredictable.

But, she said it’s important for scientists to try to solve the yellow-billed cuckoo’s mysteries. Its population is in steep decline due to habitat loss, particularly the population that lives in the western United States. The western population is listed as “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Rhodes’ organization is working on a couple of efforts to learn more about yellow-billed cuckoos. The group is working with a genetic testing group based in Colorado to isolate DNA from their tail feathers.

In addition, Rhodes’ group is working with scientists at the University of South Alabama to tag the birds and learn more about where conservation efforts should be focused.

Yellow-billed cuckoos begin arriving in Alabama in April and early May. They can be found throughout the state as they breed during the summer, according to the Audubon Society.

In the fall, the cuckoos begin migrating south for the winter, leaving Alabama by late October. They settle in South America, as far as southern Brazil and Paraguay.

The best time to see yellow-billed cuckoos in Alabama is late September into October, Rhodes said. Peak migration from the northern Gulf Coast happens around mid-October, she said.

You may be able to see them on Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island during migration. Rhodes recommends trying the Fort Morgan State Historic Site, Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Gaines, or Indian Shell Mound Park.

Before you head out looking for the yellow-billed cuckoo, you should learn their call. Unlike what their name might imply, it’s not a “coo-coo” sound. It’s more like a sharp, guttural chirp, that you might expect from an insect. Its song is more like a croak than a peaceful coo.

“It’s a guttural, hard, knocking series,” Rhodes said.