Geoffrey, very interesting, though it differs a bit with
observations at my local scene.
As for last year the Koel has stayed around well into the New
Year but the pattern has been a little different. While observations have
been concentrated around the same two areas of Hibiscus Crescent in Rivett and
Rene St Chapman, the bird(s) seem to have been quite a bit more mobile, have
been observed in between these areas and it’s been impossible to be sure if
there are one or two (or more) individuals. Also while calling before Xmas
included a lot of “wurrah wurrah wurrah” in 2012 it has almost consistently been
the traditional two-noted one.
Like at your place the calling has been much less persistent,
usually for only a couple of minutes between 6 to 7 am, very occasionally later
in the morning and on a couple of occasions after 10 pm at night (with at one
time two different birds clearly identified).
This morning was a typical example, a male bird called off
Hibiscus Crescent round 6 am and then flew off in a S direction (one of the few
I’ve actually seen in the past two years!). Within 10 minutes I heard it
for a minute or two near Percy Crescent Chapman, about 1 km to the WSW and an
unusual location, so I suspect the same bird but impossible to be sure.
My impression from the local area is that it’s
hard to tell whether there are fewer round this year. This also
applies to the chat line, I suspect quite rightly they are being reported as
exceptions rather than as regulars.
Has anyone any evidence for breeding yet? This is
likely to be observed from now on, so keep your eyes and ears open.
Jack Holland
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 8:22 AM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Changing vocal habits of the
K-bird
This year the pattern of calling by the local koel(s) has
been different:
1.
Relatively little of the prolonged ‘oo-wop’ call -
less frequent, shorter duration and generally more distant (possibly the bird
close at hand not doing much at all).
2.
Much more of the ‘wurra-wurra’ call, more often heard than the
‘oo-wop’.
3.
Quite a bit of the ‘whuh-huh-huh’ call. This is occasionally
of the excited kind (I believe given by male or female), but also of the slower
kind, sometimes just once (as this morning at 0730), occasionally 3-4 times at
intervals. This might be a contact call. Once a fast
‘whikh-ikh-ikh-ikh’, a bit like the blackbird alarm call, was given by a male
being chased by wattlebirds.
4.
On two occasions this season when 3 birds were about (including 2
males) there was an excited chorus of wurras and whuh-huhs.
5.
Most calling is very early-morning by bird(s) moving about.
It is hardly worth getting up to investigate the caller because a disappearing
bird is often all that is to be seen.
I do not believe there are less koels this year, just a
different pattern of calling. I have theories about what is going on, but
entirely speculative at this
stage.
