Common Koel

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The Common Koel (Eudynamis scolopacea) is a cuckoo that migrates from Asia down to Australia for the summer. It lays its eggs in cup-shaped nests of large honeyeaters. This is a photo of the male. The female is barred brown and so far hasn't come anywhere close for me to take a photo. Although this bird is often hard to see as it hides among the foliage it is certainly not hard to hear! From a distance the call is not unpleasant but close up - like just outside my bedroom window at night!!! - it is loud and raucous. You can hear its call here.
I took this photo in the late afternoon and the bird's feathers were picking up the golden tones of the sunset sky.
This is a full crop of the above photo showing the bird's beautiful eye.

Koel - again

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.


The Common Koel that I posted about last week is still around. This morning he sat in the pine tree next door. I thought it was worth another post since this time I was able to record both the coo-ee part of his call and also the frantic shrieking at the end. Fortunately he hasn't been calling right outside my window at night again.

Change of Mind.

I have always liked hearing the call of the Common Koel at the beginning of summer. For me it has signaled that winter is over and all the summer activities that I enjoy so much are beginning. However, I have only once had good clear sightings of both the male and female birds. They sat outside my window and I photographed them through the glass.

Male KoelFemale Koel with her head ducked down in front

Two nights ago I changed my mind about these birds. One sat outside my bedroom window and called intermittently all night. Their call is particularly loud and definitely enough to disturb anyone's sleep. The Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds describes the call this way:
"Monotonous shrieking crescendo of calls, most commonly a loud and shrill repeated coo-eee, rising to a frantic climax and abruptly breaking off..."
Here's a little video (although a rather shaky one!) with the bird calling this morning out on the power lines. This is not the shrieked climax of the call – just the normal monotonous part.

It's enough to change anyone's mind when this goes on all night immediately outside the window.