While doing my survey of the W fence area of Narrabundah Hill this morning I was surprised to hear an Eastern Koel calling. At first I was reluctant to put it on my list as it seemed to be well in the horse paddocks to the W and probably outside my 0.5
km outside my survey site. However, at the end it was ko-eling very loudly from bushland close to the W border towards the NW corner. All the calls were of the ko-el type, which is as expected when the bird is not in the presence of conspecifics.
It’s the first time in my local area I’ve ever recorded this species well away from the houses and gardens of suburbs, with Duffy at least a km away, though there are some scattered houses/buildings in the area including a big equestrian complex.
Interestingly up until yesterday it’s been a much quieter Koel season in the area of Rivett/Chapman where I recorded between 6-10 fledglings last breeding season. Since then there have been at least 2 males with a mixture of ko-el and whoa calling, and
at least one female kek kek kekking, including flying over our house.
Also interesting this morning was the presence of 2 Pallid Cuckoos, the first I’ve recorded locally since towards the end of September. One was giving the typical male call, the first I’ve heard it locally this spring/summer.
Jack Holland
