Many thanks Jenny, your experience in Weston closely mirrors mine in Chapman/Rivett 3-4 km away, both in my GBS and well outside of it, except that it often has been through much of the day. Activity has clearly dropped off in the past week with it appears
just a single pair now around. Ditto for RWBs, they have been breeding continuously in my GBS site since mid September when nest building was first observed. The begging of the fledgling currently there (I suspect bred in the nest outside the bedroom window)
has become very loud over the past week, I’ve often had to check to see if it was a Koel.
I have also seen some interesting behaviours, in one case a female sat in a frozen forward position for over 40 minutes in a bush along the back fence giving the occasional call, while a male called a bit more frequently from a tree close by. I’ve also
in the past had 2 birds of each sex in the same binocular view, but sitting rather quietly compared with the description of your birds.
We still have a lot to learn about Koels, including why no fledglings in my patch so far despite the activity, Diana White in Narrabundah is having a similar experience this season. One theory is that if Koels are very noisy, RWBs become more alert –
which fits in with where I’ve unexpectedly found some of my Koel fledglings in the past.
Regards
Jack Holland
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2019 2:13 PM
Subject: [canberrabirds] More on Koels
Hi Jack, no Koel fledglings at my house in Weston to date. Have had a pair of what I think are resident Red Wattlebirds feeding 2 RW young over the last 10 days. Since Oct, have had nest with DY or RW fledglings,
probably from 2 pairs of adults in the area, over all GBS weeks except for 3 weeks in Dec - so RWs got started early before the Koels arrived (4 Nov at my place).
Since 4 Nov, I have been hearing or seeing up to 3 Koels almost every day in and around the garden, usually in early morning, occasionally evening. Yesterday, Sat morning, I had 4 Koels (2 males/2 females)
in one tree on my block, in fact all in the same binocular view, calling together and doing what Id describe as body twitching or flicking, which I’d not seen before. Will have to have a look in HANZAB re courtship displays.
Cheers
Jenny
From: Jack & Andrea Holland [
Sent: Sunday, 20 January 2019 12:46 PM
To: Robin Hide <>;
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Red Wattlebird feeding yng koel Ainslie
Many thanks Robin, that now makes 17 Koel fledglings of which I’m aware. Still none in my local area, nor has Diana White, who had more than me last season, found
any so far.
Sent:
Sunday, January 20, 2019 10:48 AM
Subject:
[canberrabirds] Red Wattlebird feeding yng koel Ainslie
Distinctive begging call from our crab apple tree at 10.30 this morning, then moved to powerlines.
First appearance here, although the local Red Wattlebird family have been daily visitors at bird bath.
Robin
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