Common Koel

Each year Birdos argue about who was first to hear the calls of the returning Koel. My first definite 'hearing' was at 6 am on Tuesday 21 September. I thought I had heard one the previous week but it was so far away and not repeated so I couldn't be certain. The call up close is unmistakable. The birds have returned seeking suitable foster parents for their offspring.

The Common Koels, Eudynamys scolopacea, are very handsome birds though the male and female are very different. The male is glossy black with a red eye while the female has a black head and neck, with a stripe on the cheek, the back and wings are brown spotted and the tail brown barred.

Our local birds are not happy to see the Koels return and will attempt to chase them at every opportunity. Why are our local birds so unfriendly to the beautiful Koel? Well the Koel is a cuckoo and like most cuckoos it lays its egg in another birds nest. In a few weeks time you are likely to see some poor pee wee or noisy fryer bird with a large and always hungry chick which in no way resembles the 'parents' who are struggling to keep up the food supply.

How is it that these 'parents' accept these 'ugly ducklings' as there own is unknown. But it may have something to do with the cuckoo being the only chick left in the nest. (Cuckoo chicks have a bad habit of jettisoning the eggs or chicks of its foster parents.)

It is also a marvel of nature that the Koel chick can be brought up on a diet that no self respecting adult Koel would contemplate. Then at some stage the chick has to actually realise it is a Koel and not the same as its foster parent. It will then follow the other Koels when they depart at the end of summer.