Pacific Koel
Eudynamys orientalis· 杜鹃科(2 photos)
Photographed In:
Locations:
Pacific Koel
40-46 cm. Large cuckoo, well known by distinctive call.
- Other name
- Eastern Koel, Pacific Koel, Australian Koel, Cooee or Rainbird.
- Male
- glossy blue-black; bill whitish horn; tail long, rounded; eye red. Female: crown/nape/face black; upperparts cocoa-brown with plentiful white spots, bars; buff-white whisker-mark above black throat stripe; underparts white to chestnut-buff, lightly barred darker. Immature: like female, but head rufous, mottled; eye brown, later orange. Sub-adult males blackish with traces of rufous-barring. Singles, pairs; parties in leafy, fruiting trees. Wary, elusive: courting males noisy with feverish flight chases; calls day/night, especially in wet.
- Similar Species
- Long-tailed Cuckoo, Satin Bowerbird, Spangled Drongo.
- Voice
- male: far-carrying, slow 'kooeel'; brisk, rising 'quoy-quoy-quoy-quoy'; 'quodel-quodel-quodel', 'wirra wirra wirra' or rising, demented 'weir-weir-weir-weir!'. Female: shrill, four-note brassy piping. Silent after breeding.
- Habitat
- leafy, fruiting trees on fringes of rainforests, woodlands, streams; farmlands, parks, streets.
- Breeding
- Sept.-March.
- Eggs
- 1; salmon-pink, marbled reddish, violet-grey, in nest of friarbird, wattlebird, miner, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Olive-backed Oriole, figbird, Paradise Riflebird, Magpie-lark.
- Range & Status
- winters PNG-Indonesia; breeding migrant (Aug.-May) to n. and e. Aust. from Kimberley (WA) to s. coast, NSW; casual s. WA, ACT, w. slopes NSW (Dubbo), e. Vic., NZ.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Eudynamys orientalis cyanocephalus 2. Eudynamys orientalis subcyanocephalus
