Many thanks Maryann, certainly during their very noisy aggregations I have witnessed at least up to 4 Koels of either sex, though it is always very hard to do exact counts as they are usually not
all able to be seen in these, besides their being highly mobile.
However, it is much more difficult to know what enticed 5 of them into a chicken coop as this would seem to be an entirely different matter. While HANZAB does list one instance of a “Koel egg found
in nest of domestic chicken in chicken coop” (ref Ley, M. 1992. Wingspan 6: 6., unfortunately I don’t seem to have this volume), it is not clear why the males would follow the female there, perhaps the chooks were being fed lots of fruit. It is also
not clear to me why the males would be aggressive to her, as usually they would be fighting each other to show dominance, but perhaps due to their number they all were vying to get to her to mate.
This species continues to fascinate me, possibly because they are “so out there” as they are around my area of Chapman/Rivett at the moment.
Regards
Jack Holland
From: Canberrabirds <>
On Behalf Of Maryanne Gates via Canberrabirds
Sent: Wednesday, 4 November 2026 4:40 PM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Eastern Koel observations
Today, Wildcare received six adult Eastern Koels.
One (an adult male) was clipped by a car in Queanbeyan, and the other five (four adult males and an adult female) were accidentally trapped in a chicken coop in Bungendore.
The member of the public who called about the birds in Bungendore initially thought the black birds were White-winged Choughs, and that they were attacking the female Koel.
Is it possible the males (who are definitely not Choughs) were trying to mate with the female? And is it usual to have a group of five Eastern Koels in one location?
Maryanne Gates
Bird Coordinator
Wildcare Queanbeyan Inc
