What do they look like?
Eastern Koels (Eudynamys orientalis) are known for their glossy black plumage, tinged with blue and green and a red eye. Females are brown with white spots on top, a black crown and buff-cream with black bars underneath.
Where are they found?
The Eastern Koel is a common buddy in many backyards in cities and towns across eastern and northern Australia.
Traditionally inhabiting woodlands and rainforests, they’re also comfortable in urban places, particularly where there are tall trees to hide in and lots of fruiting plants.
Fast facts:
- Koels are brood parasites which means they are a type of cuckoo who lets other birds raise their young for them.
- Koel numbers are increasing in our cities as a result of more fruiting trees in urban habitats and also because of the increase in their host species who love all the nectar flowers in our gardens. More Koels may mean more noisy dawn calls.
Eastern Koel – the full story
The Eastern Koel (Eudynamys orientalis) is a common buddy in many backyards in cities and towns across eastern and northern Australia.
Traditionally inhabiting woodlands and rainforests, they’re also comfortable in urban places, particularly where there are tall trees to hide in and lots of fruiting plants.
Koels are brood parasites which means they are a type of cuckoo who lets other birds raise their young for them. The female Koel will lay an egg in the nest of one of her favourite host birds (Red Wattlebird, friarbirds, or Magpie Larks). The baby cuckoo will out-compete for food and remove its competing host-siblings from the nest. The host parents won’t realise what’s going on and will continue to feed the fast-growing cuckoo chick.
The female koel can time her own egg to be ready when her chosen host bird is ready to lay their eggs. This reduces the chances that the other bird will be suspicious of a strange egg appearing.
This may sound cruel but it’s just a natural part of bird behaviour and helps control population numbers of these other dominating species.
You can make your neighbourhood friendlier for Eastern Koels
Koel numbers are increasing in our cities as a result of more fruiting trees in urban habitats and also because of the increase in their host species who love all the nectar flowers in our gardens. More Koels may mean more noisy dawn calls.
If their calls are disturbing your sleep, you may want to think about making your garden less appealing to Koels and their hosts. You can do this by building up an understory for small birds and removing fruiting weeds and covering fruit trees in wildlife-friendly netting.
Simple things that you do can make a huge difference to Australia’s animals. That’s why the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is running Backyard Buddies— to give you tips to help.
Eastern Koels love:
Eating fruit – particularly from ornamental backyard fruit trees.
Team work – the male and female work together so the female can sneak into another bird’s nest to lay her egg.
Travelling – from Papua New Guinea to Australia in September and then back again in March.
But they don’t like:
Cold weather – which is why they fly back north for the winter.
Too much work – so they choose other birds to do the child raising for them. However, the female Koel will sometimes stick around to help feed her growing baby.
Be a buddy to the Eastern Koel
Try to:
- make your garden friendly for the Eastern Koel, who love exotic fruiting plants like palm trees.
- leave a protected bird bath in your garden and watch these birds playing in the water. A full, clean bird bath can be a lifesaver for birds during very hot days.
- listen to the male calling and try to work out whether he’s found a female (his call will become faster and more excited).
Avoid:
- feeding these buddies as they have plenty of food in the wild to find and you could end up making them sick.
- not get too annoyed if they are being noisy as they will soon be out of your hair. The last of the Koels will leave Australia in March but you should notice it getting quieter by early January.
Don’t be surprised if:
- you hear this buddy calling from the treetops at 4 am. Their voices carry further in the dead of night.
- a baby Koel is being fed by another bird as they use other birds to raise their young.
