Koel spring mating call drives residents crazy

THE NIGHT call of the koel is one of the most common — and irritating — sounds of spring — known to keep people awake in homes across Sydney and the Central Coast.

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IS THIS the most annoying sound of spring?

After their winter sojourn in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, koels are back in big numbers to make life miserable for some Central Coast residents.

The male of the species is known to drive some people bonkers with its ascending “wurro-wurro” call, which can go on day and night.

The male eastern koels are back in town and looking for love.

While some people find the call a soothing, comforting reminder that spring has well and truly arrived, to others, who may find one nesting outside their bedroom window it can be nothing short of infuriating.

Avid birdwatcher Allan Benson said the male called for two reasons; firstly to tell other males “this is my territory so get lost” and secondly, to tell the females he had established a territory and was ready to breed.

“For a bird that advertises its presence, it is often difficult to see as it tends to call from high up in the thickest foliage of the tree,” he said.

Female koels and their young are brown and speckled while the males, who make the incessant calling, are typically black.

The koel is a cuckoo which lays its eggs in other bird’s nests. It commonly parasites the nests of honeyeaters.

Once it lays its eggs in other species’ nests, it gets these birds to act as surrogate parents to raise a young koel which is often twice their size.

A large koel chick dwarfs its surrogate parent, a magpie, who feeds it. Picture: John Nash.

“Koels are becoming more common on the Central Coast because the wattlebirds, the largest species of honeyeaters, are becoming more common,” Mr Benson said.

“Our urban gardens with lots of planted native species are the ideal habitat for these large aggressive and dominant honeyeaters.”

A 10-day-old koel is being hand reared after it was rescued.

Mr Benson said if people had wattlebirds in their neighbourhood, they were likely to have koels, which hung around until about March when they head back north for the cooler months.

“Spring is an exciting time for bird watching on the Central Coast with the migrants returning to breed,” he said.

“What is interesting is that each species returns on more on less the same date every year and to the same location. So if you’ve got one this year, you’re likely to have one next year and the year after.”

Mr Benson said a couple of other returning migrating birds to keep an eye out for included dollarbirds and woodswallows, which usually perch on power lines.

Some people have taken matters into their own hands in their bid to get a decent night’s sleep including using high pressure hoses to try and scare koels away. Picture: Richard Walker