Different types of Koels, and their calls

4 posts / 0 new

Sun, 23/03/2014 - 17:38

oliviatester10

What are the different types of Koels? I've heard of the Common Koel, and the Asian Koel - are there any other types? And is the Eastern Koel the same as the Common Koel?

About their calls- recently one of my friends mentioned to me about a two black birds and a brown one (all about the same size) that she saw in her yard. I showed her a picture of a Koel, and she said that the birds she saw looked alike to the one I showed her.

The interesting thing she mentioned was the call they were making to each other. A sort of meow, or cat call. I youtubed it and found one result. Although it did not say, I presumed it was a Koel, and when I showed it to her, she said that was the noise they made.

Please note that this is not the usual call koels make to each other, or so I have found on the internet, and other sources.

So now more to the point!

Would that sound be a call a Koel would have made? If so, why? And what species\type would have made it, if a Koel did not?

Thanks in advance. Feel free to PM me if you would prefer that.

Tue, 25/03/2014 - 18:07

timmo

Hi Olivia,

It is a little bit confusing when you get into the details, and there may be some debate about species vs subspecies etc.

In summary:

According to Birdlife International, there are 4 species in the Genus Eudynamys:
- Eudynamys melanorhynchus, Black-billed Koel
- Eudynamys orientalis, Eastern Koel (also Pacific Koel or Australian Koel)
- Eudynamys scolopaceus, Asian Koel
- Eudynamys taitensis, Long-tailed Koel
There appears to be some debate about species status vs. subspecies, and the first 3 species above are sometimes considered as a single species with different subspecies. The single species is referred to as the Common Koel

From Wikipedia: "The Black-billed Koel (E. melanorhynchus) of the Sulawesi region and the Pacific Koel (E. orientalis) of Australasia are sometimes considered conspecific with the Asian Koel in which case the "combined" species is known as the Common Koel (E. scolopaceus)."

According to the Christidis and Boles list (which *I think* is the generally accepted checklist of Australian birds), they take the latter approach, treating the Asian Koel and Eastern Koel as a single species, referred to as the Common Koel.

References:

http://www.iboc.org.au/info/Christidis%20&%20Boles%202008%20Checklist.pdf

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sowbsearchresults.php?a=ns&SearchTerms=koel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Koel

Cheers
Tim
Brisbane