Chapter 7: Asian Koel

Yes, finally one of those famous birds, the Asian Koel. I think many of you have heard the sweet song of Koel early in the morning but found it hard to spot him. That's right "him", quite a few of us have the impression that the female is a singer whereas, actually, the female does not have a very lovely voice.

Moreover, the koels are sexually dimorphic i.e., the male and females are different in appearance. The male has a shiny bluish-black plumage while the female is brown in colour with white spots all over the body. However, both have crimson iris and a pale greyish bill.

The first time I spotted a male Koel, I didn't know it was a Koel, I thought it was a juvenile Greater Coucal. Later, on observing the photos carefully, I realized that it was the Koel. I had never thought that I would get a chance to watch this singer so closely. And to my surprise, I still get to observe it almost every day. It mostly roosts on dense trees like the blackboard and sometimes neem. And now that the spring season is going on, it is constantly making its signature sound - Kuhu, Kuhu, to serenade the female. 

I observed many male koels during the lockdown, but I had to wait for a very long time to witness the beauty of the female. It was only recently that I saw her plucking fruits from a climber. My most memorable moment of one of these recent encounters is the first day of spring, 'Vasant Panchami' according to the Lunar calendar. My dad woke me up early that morning to ID a bird that he had spotted roosting over the neem tree. It was the male Koel and within moments we spotted two more of them nearby. Slowly, as the sun rose, all three of them started singing which made us realize that there may be a female close by. And there she was!! Almost camouflaged in the greyish brown background. (Can you spot her?😏👇) Moments later, all the three males started fighting with each other while she was just quietly observing them.

Unfortunately, I couldn't capture all of these scenarios but do watch the ones that I did😁. Happy Birding!!