On Sunday 20 December I picked up a freshly dead female Koel (now with CSIRO Wildlife). It was then very quiet for a couple of days. While it then picked up after, for a week there were only male ko-el and
whoa calls, so it might have been the only female in the local area, earlier in the season there were at least 2.
On Monday 28 December I heard my first definite female kek keks and since that time there have been at least 3 in the area, including one very agitated one (as were the Red Wattlebirds – RWB around it), so it
might have been trying to lay an egg.
Before, but especially around the time females appeared again, there has been much more ko-el calling than usual, including for prolonged periods, consistent with males still trying to find a mate.
Yesterday morning I had my first frenzied multiple Koel aggregation for the season, with at least 5 birds (3 males) calling (whoas and kek keks) and flying around frantically chasing each other within a small
area. This lasted for at least 6 minutes.
This morning I confirmed my first Koel fledgling for the season. I had been hearing the much louder begging than the more than 6 sets of RWB fledglings currently in the local area, and getting brief glimpses
of it behind some houses in Rivett for the past two days, but it was on the verge fed by RWBs this morning. Despite this I only got brief views of a darkish, long tailed fledgling while it moved around 150 m over the 10 minutes I was observing it.
So clearly it had fledged quite a bit earlier in the month. This is now the 11th for this season that I’m aware of, beating the previous 8 by the New Year for last season, in keeping with their earlier
arrival.
If you have observed any recently, or do so in the New Year please send me a brief e-mail of
when and where you first saw or heard it, and if possible the host species (most likely a Red Wattlebird) that is feeding it.
Jack Holland
