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Storm Bird – Red-eyed-mad, Noisy & Always on the Move: The Koel

Ian Browne

Springtime Sydney, as the jacaranda trees blossom their glorious splash of mauve, the call of the koel does charm: “summer is on the way!” A nuisance to those seeking slumber, it calls for a mate in the tree by the bedroom window: “kkooooooooell.” I have seen koels in Sri Lanka, Singapore, and around my home on a hill in northern New South Wales  their commotion common throughout the hot humid months.

A melee of mottled grey streaks, a female koel antagonised by noisy friarbirds in my neighbour’s yard late last year. The following day a tree pregnant in mangos saw a male koel - shining black & red-eyed-mad - being hassled by various species of honeyeaters. Making their presence felt among the permanent residents, the koels had arrived down from Indonesia & Papua.

Female koels look for wattlebird nests in Sydney, while in my area, the northern rivers, friarbird nests provide a home in which to lay their eggs. Koels desire suitable babysitters away from the looming monsoon deluge north from Capricorn. So, in terms of birthplace, our parasitic cuckoo species are actually Australian, rather than Asian citizens. Yep, Eastern Koel have the unique behaviour of anointing another species of bird to incubate their egg and raise their young. It is a stunning sight to see the parent birds feeding a chick as big, or bigger then, themselves in the nest.

In Darwin, my Tiwi Island school students called them ‘storm birds’, and much like moi: mad, noisy & always on the move!