koel bird is back

I originally posted this album on Dec 28 2008 , but the other day when I was editing it, it vapourised into thin air and vanished. As I was using it as a record of when the koel is around, I am reposting the album. [However after I had completed this album, the original was restored.]

The photos are lousy, but I am more interested in keeping a log of when the koels are in town. Wikipedia has good photos and more information on koel and Asian koel.

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Dec 28 2008

The koel bird is back with its noisy call. Woke me up yesterday morning, 27 Dec 2008. I find the call very irritating!!

The bird is migatory and seems to pass through KL twice a year. It is a type of cuckoo, and like other members of the cuckoo family, it lays its eggs in the nests of crows, so that the young are raised by crows. According to Wikipedia, it migrates to warmer climates in winter, so as it has just arrived in KL in Dec, it must have come from a colder country. At a guess, it is the Asian Koel.

The call is loud, distinctive........... and irrating. It seems to scream rather than call, drawing out the last syllable - ko ellll. Apparently it is the male which makes this call.

Although I often hear the koel, it is quite difficult to see the actual bird. Managed to take these photos from my window using the zoom, lousy photos, but at least I managed to shoot the bird! The photos were taken in May 2007 and 2008.

I made a note of when I heard the bird and it was almost every morning until Jan 27 when I went away. It called only in the morning, usually between 7-8 am though sometimes was later. It was still calling when I got back in mid Feb.

And when I was in Bangkok at the end of Jan, the first thing I heard from my hotel was............... yes......... that wretched koel bird !
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Update 2010
I came back to KL in mid Jan and the koel was calling. It was still there Jan 27. By early Feb I heard one calling occasionally. I was in south Thailand first week in Feb and the koel was there as well! Towards the end of Feb there seemed to be less calling, though one was still waking me around 7am in early March. Mid March and I occasionally heard one calling. It's been excessively hot since end of Jan, so maybe the koels are staying longer than normal cos of the heat.
I was away mid Mar till end of May. Then forgot about it, but I realised by mid July that I hadn't heard the koel at all for at least a month, maybe longer.

I next heard the bird on Nov 13 2010. It was quiet for a few days, then started again on 18th, then from 23rd I was hearing it most days.

2011

In mid Jan I often heard the bird calling between 6.30-7am when it was still dark. It was calling throughout February. I was away in March. In April I heard it calling just a couple of times, 13th . Didn't hear it at all July or Aug. The next time I heard it was Dec 3. I had also heard it in Spore around the same time.

2012
Early Jan and the koel was very noisy, especially just before dawn.
I was away from mid Feb till mid Mar. When I came back, the koel was noisy. During May there was a bird calling off and on.
It was around in Dec .

2013
When I came back from London in early Jan the koel was calling.
2013 winter - I first heard the bird in KL on Nov 14, then not until 21. Next was 24. These dates are almost the same as those for 2010.

2014
I was away in Jan. Got back to KL early Feb and heard the koel on 7th. Then I was away until early March and when I got back to KL the koel was calling. Was away again until early April. The koel was calling loudly in April, even at 4.40 am in Ipoh which is more than 2 hours before daylight.

1 or 2 were still calling in mid June, then I went away.

2015
I returned to KL early Feb 2015 and the koel was calling. It was also in Ipoh end of Feb and there it was calling when it was still dark, before sunrise. I noted it was doing this last year as well. One morning it was calling at 4.50am which is 2 hours before dawn. By Mar 23 it was calling less but was still around at the end of March and still around in early May though I rarely heard it.

End of April I saw the film "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and was amused to hear a koel calling in the film, it was towards the end at the start of the wedding ceremony. So the koel is also in India! Hardly heard the koel by end of May.

I was then away, when I returned in August I didn't hear the koel at all.

2015 winter - Heard one koel 19 Nov 2015, luckily not where I live but down the road. Nov 26 one was calling near my kitchen window, but I only heard it once.

2016
I returned to KL in mid Feb and the koel was calling loudly from the trees around my condo. It was even calling at 6.30 am, some time before it got light. I did a separate blog on the noisy koel.


© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission