Koels and Wattlebirds

["Jack Hunter via Canberrabirds " <>]

G'day folks, 

One you might be interested in! For a few years now, we have had what I assume are returning Red Wattlebirds claiming our native hedges in spring. They were joined by a juvenile RWB around late December in 2024, then flash forwards to late January in 2025, and they were seen raising an appropriately demanding juvenile Koel... Previous to this sighting in 2025 an adult male Koel gave us many sleepless mornings while calling from our backyard, unmolested by the RWBs. This year, however, these RWBs have joined the trend of early nesting and are already frequenting our baths with a juvenile in tow. Interestingly, while we've been hearing them for a few weeks now, a male Koel finally touched down on Monday morning in the same tree as previous years. Only this time, he was immediately met with a storm of RWB beak clipping from which he made a quick escape. 

Obviously, all anecdotal, and there's no way of knowing for sure whether the same birds are involved, but in any case, the sudden RWB aggression towards this Koel tracks with the general evolutionary arms race between brood-parasites and host-parents. 

Have a good one!
(Other) Jack 
  

On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 9:19 AM jandaholland--- via Canberrabirds <> wrote:

Thanks Alison, in my article in the June issue of CBN, I list many examples
of Red Wattlebirds (RWBs)  attacking Koels, particularly females.  So far
this year I have already put an example for 14 October from Rivett on eBird.

Despite this, as I also published in CBN, there seemed to be more Koel
fledglings raised by RWBs than in any season since the Bumper one of
2020-2021.

Regards

Jack Holland

-----Original Message-----
From: Canberrabirds <> On
Behalf Of Alison Mackerras via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 20 October 2026 8:26 PM
To: Canberrabirds <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Koels and Wattlebirds

There was a female Koel at my place this morning on the ground in the
strawberry patch eating all the ripe strawberries.

A short time later a red wattlebird flew at the Koel repeatedly and chased
it out of the yard. This particular wattlebird seems to recognise that Koels
are bad news.

Alison Mackerras
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