Sorry, Laura. I spoke partly in jest, but only partly. There is great variation, naturally enough, in what contributors think should be contributed, and, as David will say (which is the real rule), all contributions are welcome. However some years ago a complaint was voiced about the multiplicity of koel reports, on the ground that in many places one only had to cock an ear to be aware of the far-carrying call. I hear calls every morning where I live, and also in the background at many other sites - including the wetlands. In recent years there has been a pattern of one report ‘I heard a koel at X’ giving rise to ‘I heard one at Y’ , ‘I heard one at Z’ etc etc much as the repeated echo of the call itself. That chorus is traditionally terminated by ‘Are they meant to be unusual? I hear them every day’ - until it begins again in a few weeks ,or next year. From: Laura Johnson [
Sent: Monday, 9 December 2013 4:53 PM
To: Martin Butterfield; Geoffrey Dabb
Cc: John Harris; chatline canberrabirds
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] A tale of two koels I didn't know about that rule for the chatline - I'm really sorry if I've broken it, which I'm sure I have on multiple occasions, with multiple species! Is it a recent rule? I've seen a few repeat records of koels from the same sites in the chatline archives, so I'm just curious.
From: Martin Butterfield
Sent: Monday, 9 December 2013 4:27 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb
Cc: John Harris; chatline canberrabirds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] A tale of two koels It is important to remember that John's arrival 13 years pretty much coincided with the Koel's move from exciting rarity to noisy nuisance. I'm not suggesting he had anything particular in his suitcase! On 9 December 2013 16:04, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote: They are heard daily at many locations, John. However, the rule is that you are allowed one chatline report for a location where not previously heard. That tends to give the wrong impression that they are not fairly common at this time of year throughout the Canberra suburbs as a whole. Always plenty of koels around here. Interesting interplay of two koels here in Nicholls yesterday evening. Female Koel was calling from the lower branches of a eucalyptus tree outside my back fence, with it’s typical three or four loud shrieks ( which carry quite a distance). The much more musical, more melodious male Koel answered antiphonally from about 200 metres away across the creek on Percival Hill. It was nearly dusk but not quite and standing beneath the tree I watched the pretty female calling at close range for 5 minutes. The duet went on for about half an hour and my wife and I enjoyed the little performance with a glass of wine on the back verandah. They stopped on dark. Don’t often get to hear this interaction, especially as prolonged as it was this time. PS I was bemused by all the sudden excitement about koels on the chatline a few weeks ago. I have seen and heard Koels here every year for the past 13 years I have lived here and I thought them interesting but not remarkable. But when I looked them up in the COG Annual Bird Report, I then realised that they were considered uncommon and that people were therefore keen to hear and report them.
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Martin Butterfield |
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