Jack asked for reports on what the koels are up to. As I key, the(a?) Page koel youngster is serenading me from the neighbour’s olive. He is fully grown now and looks a dead ringer for the one portrayed in HANZAB. As I first encountered him in my front garden on 8 Feb (and had heard begging for two days before that), I estimate he is 23 days since fledging so should soon be on his way (HANZAB says 21-28 days). On 8 Feb an adult male koel flew into the tree in which junior was perched and gave a loud 5-minute concert of a suite of koel calls, chiefly “ko-el” but a few “wirra wirra wirras”. An adult gives short bursts in the vicinity of junior most days, once or twice only. The young bird is still being fed by increasingly bedraggled Red Wattlebirds who can’t reach up to his bill any longer – he has to bend. My pears are on the menu. He moves in a limited area from the olive to street trees (eucs) in Carron and Hannaford Sts and across to a pin oak then back to my garden. It has been a delight to watch him grow. And no, I have no idea if he is actually male but the neighbourhood has christened him Koko in the hopes he’ll turn out a rich shining black. b
