OFFICIAL CORRECTION - Kleo stuffs up bird identification!
December 5th 2008 01:13
You may or may not remember me discussing black birds I feed and enjoy in my back yard. When we first moved in they puzzled me deeply, as they are not crows, kurrawongs or magpies, and are more like Mynah birds in their behaviour. I eventually decided on the ID of Koel. The Koel is described as a large black bird, with a slightly hooked beak and ruby red eye. The males can travel in pairs(occassionally in groups), but never with a female who is shy and furtive and rarely seen. I once saw one when I lived in the Northern Beaches - pulling a net off a tree to get at the figs. The Koel is primarily a fruit eater. I remember being fascinated by his size, the furry feathers that wrapped down his upper legs like an eagle or hawk. A bird like this - the red eyes, the black glossy feathers and particular way of moving - is so rare I thought a Koel is what it must be. Our black boys showed up about Oct/Sept which is the time the Koel migrates here. The Koel is also a cuckoo, and about the time I was identifying my mysterious black bird, we had large, tawny looking birds (the Koel chick is tawny looking) crying miserably in our trees. You can always tell a cuckoo baby, they cry for the parents who have abandoned him, usually poor little wattle birds who can no longer support it. That abandonment gives all cuckoo type birds the vicious nature they need to put eggs in other birds nests later on.
Heres a snap of the black birds in my yard -
A few things did not add up. The calls didnt sound right, the fact that my guys travel in a definite FLOCK, supporting one another and defending and feeding each other. Its a society, not something a cuckoo would consider. But I thought, hey, how many red eyed black birds ARE there anyway? And last week, while researching ferals, I found out about a bird called a 'chough' (say - CHUFF) and dug in.(despite being linked to feral pages, the chough is in fact native) Red eyed, glossy black feathered, with white under wings. The behaviour is spot on - forming of defensive rings to protect young, always travelling in packs of at least four but usually up to 8, comprising females and males of the same colour and body shape. The red eye becomes dilated as they force blood into it, a way of showing agression. i think I can be easily forgiven for my mistake though, heres a picture of a Koel -
And heres my Chuffs again -
So as you can see there are distinct similarities...I apologise for my bungle, Im really going to have to be more careful! In the meantime Im enjoying having my chuffs back to play with, they sure throw the bird population into a spin!
Heres a snap of the black birds in my yard -
A few things did not add up. The calls didnt sound right, the fact that my guys travel in a definite FLOCK, supporting one another and defending and feeding each other. Its a society, not something a cuckoo would consider. But I thought, hey, how many red eyed black birds ARE there anyway? And last week, while researching ferals, I found out about a bird called a 'chough' (say - CHUFF) and dug in.(despite being linked to feral pages, the chough is in fact native) Red eyed, glossy black feathered, with white under wings. The behaviour is spot on - forming of defensive rings to protect young, always travelling in packs of at least four but usually up to 8, comprising females and males of the same colour and body shape. The red eye becomes dilated as they force blood into it, a way of showing agression. i think I can be easily forgiven for my mistake though, heres a picture of a Koel -
AD Trounson/Nature Focus. See original pic at http://www.faunanet.gov.au (if this pic is out of public domain authority please inform me and I will remove it)
And heres my Chuffs again -
So as you can see there are distinct similarities...I apologise for my bungle, Im really going to have to be more careful! In the meantime Im enjoying having my chuffs back to play with, they sure throw the bird population into a spin!
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Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
A FASCINATING POST my friend, enthralling ~ and thank you for the clarification.
In the years of reseaching my book, I have discovered that the Etruscans had identified 12 different species of Crow and Eagle for avian omenical auspicies (which is what my book is about) ... and this is exactly the distinctions they learned to make in the face of a lack of more variety in their parochial species...
You couldnat have reached a more appreicative audience with this post than me Kleo, fabulous research, glad you have journaled it.
Lilla ...
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I HATE, really HATE to make mistakes of this kind, animal identification is my forte after all....I was never comfortable calling these guys 'koels' as the one Koel I had actually seen was much bigger, and definitely cuckoo like, where these guys dont act like cuckoos at all. The first time I saw a koel, I was fascinated by the feathers wrapping down the legs - only found in really high scale predator birds. Also, I was utterly sure we had males and females, and the Koel female is so differently coloured.
Theyve only been back a few days and they are already following me around for scraps - theres one with a mong leg, the very first time we ever fed birds here was because she came to the door and cried until I took her something, which she dutifully fed to her children. She's back - so she must be the big momma alpha, as only one pair in the flock breed.