After a quiet period (much of which I was out of Canberra, so it may not have been quiet), koels have sprung back to life around my home in Deakin. A pair was feeding avidly from some exotic berry in my backyard on Sunday. This evening
(Tuesday), there were two pairs chasing each other around the immediate neighbourhood, at one time sitting in a neighbour’s eucalypt in close proximity to each other. Usually, a female would call and fly off chased by a male. (#metoo??)
The two females were of the two morphs shown in HANZAB and referred to there as “dark type” and “light type”.
Last evening and on Sunday evening, I heard the distinctive call of a begging koel dependent young. I didn’t see it, but there were some pretty active RWBs around presumably trying to quell the youngster’s hunger.
David R
