Hello chat line subscribers, it’s mid-January (and mid-summer) but to date I am aware of reports of only 11 Eastern Koel fledglings. These are mostly from direct correspondence to me, though I have also checked all eBird Koel records to
31 December. There are also none to date on NatureMapr.
Importantly, I have had none in my local patch of Chapman/Rivett so far. This is not really a surprise as up to 6 Koels have been calling/chasing each other since they arrived in early November, and there is some evidence that the noisier
Koels are the more vigilant their main host, the Red Wattlebird (RWB), can be. It’s only in the past week that calling has diminished somewhat.
If you have any reports of Koel fledglings I would be very grateful if you could please forward them to me with the place, date, relative stage (most easily told by length of the tail and also how bold it was) and the host feeding it (especially
if not a RWB)?
Many thanks
Jack Holland
