As mentioned previously, koels have been very uncommon in my section of Holt. However, this has changed remarkably. During the past 25 days I hear them frequently every
day from 5 a.m. until near dark, although I hadn’t seen any until 6 p.m. yesterday, when my attention was drawn to the frenetic activity of Magpie Larks around our large White Cedar tree. As I watched through the living room window, I thought I could see a
koel in among the foliage. As I opened the screen door three or four males flew from the tree in a leisurely fashion, one paused for a couple of seconds on a neighbouring roof and carried out a leg stretch before following the others.
Incidentally, while in the tree, their calls seemed to be lower pitched than the
wirra wirra call, so I’d describe it as wurra wurra, and the final wurra was followed by a very short, surprisingly high pitched
wik! – somewhere between middle and high
John Layton.
Holt.
