Funny story.
Probably best not to assume too much. Is there any reason to think that the males entered the chicken
coop because of the female already there. Is the sequence known? Maybe she was the last to get stuck. But it is reasonable to think that the males were interested to mate with her, or vice versa. Was it necessary to take them in (are they injured)? Are they
all housed together now and are they still being aggressive?
I would suspect or suggest food availability, maybe the design of the cage and a dose of coincidence
was the reason for the situation and finding themselves trapped could explain the distressed (and odd) behaviour. But wild birds can be hyped up at this time. I have an impression though, that all the calling that males do, largely functions, to keep apart
from each other.
It is curious that someone would identify the female Koel yet not know that the males are the same species,
when they are the same size and shape (apart from that they don’t have any white on the wings).
About the reference to Wingspan. If anyone wants to see them, I still have all of the RAOU newsletters
through to Wingspan, through to the current version Australian Birdlife, since 1978 (48 years)…….
Philip
From: Canberrabirds
On Behalf Of Maryanne Gates via Canberrabirds
Sent: Wednesday, 4 November, 2026 5:24 PM
To: ;
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Eastern Koel observations
I should have mentioned, there was a fig tree in the chicken coop (although I can't imagine there was fruit on it at this time of the year).
Maryanne
On Wed, 4 Nov 2026 at 17:21, <> wrote:
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
