There are probably lots of similar stories, each with their own variations. Around my place this year there are at least 2 pairs of Koels, seen and heard daily
(and nightly) over the last 5 weeks (although my GBS chart notes 1 or 2 for the 5 weeks before that). Lots of sightings of the pairs chasing each other around. Both males are all black (no retained juv plumage, though I have seen that here in previous years).
Noisy Miners are nearby in small groups but rarely in my own property, I have not particularly noticed them bothering Koels or even directly remember any interaction. I get them on my GBS sometimes. Many Wattlebirds around and they sometimes chase the Koels,
but often give the impression of being worn out by the futility of it and often just perch and rest and watch on a branch near the Koels. Wattlebirds now have fledged young, it looks like, as typical, the Koels are around to parasitise second broods of Wattlebirds.
I also don’t notice the Magpie-larks being overly bothered by Koels, even though they are parasitised elsewhere.
Last week I asked my neighbour if the Koels calling at night has bothered her. She had not noticed. I was talking to another person who lives near Mt Taylor
last week about the birds in his yard. He told me about having regular flocks of Double-barred Finches attending his feeding tray. But he did not know about Koels. When I described them and their noise, he said he thought it was geckoes!
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Friday, 28 December, 2018 9:47 AM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Koels and related matters
I have a few things to mention. This has been an unusual season in that I have had very few koels around the immediate area. There have also been few wattlebirds, which I attribute to the aggression of Noisy Miners,
at least 2 families of those having moved in about 5 years ago. I have seen miners chasing wattlebirds, koels and other bird species. A question is: why are miners here, when they are not in some other suburban areas? I know the theory that they avoid
areas with dense shrubbery (including, I suppose, dense garden shrubbery). I believe they are unusual, if present at all, in the Bot Gardens for example. I believe that the species is advancing, probably having colonized this neighbourhood from Mount Mugga,
via Callum Brae. I wonder if they will test acceptable limits of suburban gardens as the population builds up. I am seeing miners taking advantage of garden margins, typically advancing along lines of street trees, where they can feed on foliage and under
bark. They are certainly strong breeders.
A characteristic of this area is that it has a number of fairly open neighbourhood spaces, with poor shrub-level veg. Each has its families of miners. This is what they like – spaces with scattered trees, like some
schoolyards, and golf courses. Given that miners are so territorial, areas where they are dominant can be fairly easily demarcated. Shall we see more such areas, characterised by presence of miners and absence of wattlebirds and koels, and other birds?
Even so, I have still heard quite a few koels from 100m or so away, meaning a couple of streets distant, possibly from places that are still miner-free. Perhaps they are using richer gardens, nourished by deeper topsoil
than left on the rather rocky upper suburban slopes. Yesterday I had a rare nearby male koel. This was a first-year bird with a mixture of fresh black and worn brown plumage. The record tends to confirm my suspicion that Canberra is visited by a high proportion
of young birds. Typically, the bird was evicted from its perch by a busy miner.
