Koels breeding in GBS sites

["Philip Veerman" <>]

And indeed a dy for the host species too? Although maybe we should clarify that. I point out the situation is new. At the time I wrote The GBS Report, there had never been an in nest observation of any species of cuckoo for the history of the GBS. Only dy observations. So I did not discuss the problem in The GBS Report. As Koels (unlike other cuckoos) are common in suburban Canberra and rare outside the city environs, the breeding is occurring in nests in GBS areas. In Terry's note below (and similar for others) what we likely have is a ne, a ny and if successful a dy set of records for both the cuckoo and the host. Is it sensible to call it a dy for the wattlebird? I could argue both yes (from the point of view of the wattlebird) the wattlebird has dy, or no, from the point of view of the cuckoo, there are no dy wattlebird chicks from that nest.

 

Of course at the time I wrote The GBS Report, I wrote for the Koel "No breeding records - yet"  Which indicates my now correct prediction that such records would start soon. BOCG V2 tells us even less.

 

Pity that there won't ever be an update of The GBS Report to explain the history and results of the project to clarify these things.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Tuesday, 31 January 2012 4:22 PM
To: Terry Munro
Cc:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Koels in Watson

Terry

Can you (and anyone else who has
Koels or other cuckoo breeding records in a GBS site) record the event carefully
with notes on the Chart.  If a juvenile Koel emerges it should be recorded
as DY for that species.  

Martin

On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 4:06 PM, Terry Munro <> wrote:

I've been watching a Wattlebirds nest that I believe has been parasitised by a Koel. A young dead Wattlebird chick is hanging outside the nest & the chick being fed by the adult Wattlebirds isn't making the normal bzzzt bzzt calls of a young wattlebird. I can't see inside the nest because it is too high. Over the past month there was a lot of Koel activity in the area. I am keeping a close eye on what happens.

Terry Munro