Do female Koels make a different sound to males?
This morning I saw a male and female koel fluttering about together, the male was doing the usual Koel calls but the female sounded totally different. I know it was a koel as they were calling in unision - any ideas?
Hi! Magpie. My wife and I have heard the same. I suspect that there is some dialogue, as the calls seem to go back and forth. On his own he sits in a tree and calls that stormbird call day and night, never hear the females. But when a female gets noisy I suspect that she has either found a target nest and is ready to mate or has laid and is ready again. We have seen males and females doing high speed circuits at tree top level calling back and forth … all very excited and energetic.
I'd love to know how the Koels and the Channel Bills do their stuff. I read somewhere that they size their eggs to match their target
Cheers
VJ
Hi Magpie,
Yes the males do the commonly heard "coo-ee" call, and they also do a call that consists of two notes, one higher in pitch than the other, repeated, and the whole sequence rises in pitch. While the male does this call, the female makes a high pitched "keek keek keek" call. It's really interesting to hear them together.
Andy.