Hi - I am a newbie Birds in Backyards. Thought you might like my photo of a Black Bird with it's Cuckoo chick. Can anyone identify the birds for me? This photo was taken in my backyard yesterday at Smiths Lake which is on the mid-north coast of NSW. These 2 birds spend lots of time eating the red berries on the palm trees, then reguritating the hard inner seed. Black Bird defends the palms ferociously. I have seen similar in previous years.
thanks - Anne
Not sure about the adult bird, but the young one is probably a koel juvenile.
Maybe male and female Koel!
If the black bird is not the male Koel i would try Spangled Drongo or Metallic Starling.
Cheers Beef.
Maybe a Spangled Drongo whose nesting has been parasitised (hence the associated Koel)?
Hi All
Just great to get some replies so fast thank you! I thought you may have been pulling my leg re the Spangled Drongo so I looked it up!
I checked out the koel too. I am pretty sure that is what they are. I have seen the female adult as well. It is a bit odd though, if the koel lays its egg in another birds nest, why are the koels parenting this koel?
Thats what made me think Spangled Drongo + Koel... I think the brown one is a young bird rather than female, as the top and back of its head are light rather than dark brown.
And you have to love the Drongo's name!
Have you got any shots of the black bird's tail?
I agree that the brown bird is the baby. No shots of the black bird's tail but I recall it is fanned. The bird is very black with a very loud call that is not very melodic. I will try and get some more pics of it over the weekend.
Sounds like a Drongo... The melodic call- like a sort of liquid, metallic, clinking chime...
Does its tail look like this:
Hi
Attached is a photo of parent bird. Could be a drongo but the call you described definitely doesn't sound like this bird. This guy has a rather unpleasant, very loud call which is 4 or 5 notes going upwards in scale.
As you can see it has a red eye an a grey hooked beak. It is smaller than a magpie but a bit larger than a rainbow lorikeet.
Anne
I'm still going with the male Koel.
Cheers Beef.
Hi Beef
I agree - so the question is -what is it doing with a baby koel. Do they sometimes raise their own chicks?
I don't think it is a chick i believe that would be the female.
Reasons being the Koel generally vacate the scene after raiding the hosts nest.
Not to sure about the incubation period but i would expect they would have long gone by the time of hatching.
They do migrate north after breeding i believe.
The only alternative i can think of that might not be it's own juvie might be an earlier raiding Koel and he's turned up at the wrong time?
Cheers Beef.
I beleive that you have a male and juvenile Eastern Koel; the black bird is too big for a Spangled Drongo; attached pics are male, female and then juvenile; note the female is in the same type of palm tree
Peter
Hi Pacman
Thanks for the comment. I agree with you. They like the berries on the palm tree and defend them against all comers. There are a lot of these trees in the area. Interesting to see same in your photo.
The baby has found its voice! They are very loud, especially at 4am. The male is out there now yelling its head off. It is rather nice to hear it call, then in the distance you can hear the other one replying, but at 4am I could bang there heads together.
I have added another picture that I thought some might enjoy. I don't pick the bananas - I leave them for the birds.
The koels are still active in my area. Caught this fella having a drink yesterday afternoon. The aussie minors were not happy as they consider the bird batht to belong to them. The koel was not disturbed by my presence and ignored me while I took photos of it.
l reckon its a koel.
"rather unpleasant"?? l quite like the calling of the koel in the evening , less so at 4am :)
Barney.
Koels have a nice enough tone to them. The bloody Channel-Billed Cuckoos can take a hike though, I've had about my fill of them sounding off early in the morning.