The First Koel!

[Ian Fraser <>]

Just a brief note regarding a bird with a great sense of timing and irony. I
do a fortnightly natural history show on the local ABC, and yesterday played
a tape of a Koel. One had been reported calling in suburban Canberra - we
get the very occasional vagrant - and I wanted listeners to keep an ear
open. I got one call from someone who had one in her yard, inviting me to go
and see it. I accepted (in 17 years in the ACT, I've not seen one here), but
it didn't co-operate.

I arrived home an hour or so later (in central Canberra) - and it, or a
mate, was calling in my back yard!! An adult male, with eyes bigger and
redder than the plums in the tree in which it sat. 

I know it's no big deal for anyone living north of here, but we were rapt.
I'm also intrigued by the fact that it obviously listens to the ABC!

Cheers,

Ian Fraser

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Ian Fraser, Canberra  
ph: 06 2491560  fax: 06 2473227