Hi Susan,
Sorry I did not answer your email earlier.
Without a very close look, it is hard to tell a juvenile Koel from a female adult Koel. They both have the back you described, brown with lighter spots of bars and are much lighter
underneath. The young Koel is a more compact bird with more compact tail feathers. You can look at some photos. The COG site has some good ones.
To be honest, I knew the Koel I was talking about on the chatline was a juvenile because I heard its begging call before I saw the bird. I did not identify it by sight first. Then
this was confirmed by seeing it being fed.
My guess is that you saw a female Koel.
Cheers
John
From: Philip Veerman <>
Date: Thursday, 23 January 2020 at 5:21 pm
To: 'Suzanne EDGAR' <>, chatline <>
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Juvenile Koel saga part 2
It is a lot of work to describe a juvenile Koel, with all its spots and bars. That is why we already have books that have done the work for us. I suggest you look
at a book. Or plenty of photos on websites. E.g. click on this link
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=koel+canberra&sxsrf=ACYBGNROIVta90x62GEdtkpbgouWa1lqDQ:1579760336998&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=CPUBE4bdALmOgM%253A%252C-ScO2qJKJApwvM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRjy-p8q8hOPsl7bFpt3yTqkECujA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC-93tiZnnAhVM63MBHccLAqcQ_h0wHHoECAsQCA&biw=1280&bih=882#imgrc=CPUBE4bdALmOgM:
Apart from that it really does not look like anything else, except that it looks like an adult female Koel with a red to brown top of the head instead of black,
usually smaller and with a shorter tail until full grown.
Philip
From: Suzanne EDGAR [
Sent: Thursday, 23 January, 2020 2:53 PM
To: 'John Harris'; 'chatline'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Juvenile Koel saga part 2
Please describe appearance of this bird; y’day a possible juv koel came close my kitchen window; having never seen one before I am doubtful re its identity; it was c. the size of an eastern rosella
but cocoa-coloured with darker splotches/smudges unevenly `applied’ . It was in the shadows inside the loquat tree that it was moving through [a feeding area for other familiar garden birds] so not clearly showing itself to the `viewer’, me.
Can anyone help?
Sue Edgar
From: John Harris [
Sent: Thursday, 23 January 2020 2:36 PM
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Juvenile Koel saga part 2
As reported last week, a juvenile Koel was being fed plums from my plum tree by Wattlebirds. I also reported a male Koel hanging around. The Juvenile Koel used to sit in
a nearby tree and the Wattlebirds would bring the food to it.
The young Koel has now moved to the plum tree. It still begs with its constant cheep-cheep but I have seen it get plums for itself. The Wattlebirds are still around but
I have not seen them actually feed the Koel for a couple of days. I think I have actually been observing the Koel transition from dependant to independent feeder.
The young Koel has noticeably darkened over the past week or so, losing juvenile plumage and presumably growing some adult feathers.
The male Koel is still hiding nearby.
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