They are majestic bird with their unique
echoing wooo..rrh call repeatative like gibbon. They are parasitic like their
cousin cuckoos meaning they lay their eggs on other bird nest and the adopted
parent feed them till they can fly away. They feed on wild fruits like the
ficus and grub they can find. Yet to witness Koels eating road kills though
like crows
In the 80s, some work was done by the faculty of biology, USM, on
parasitic cuckoos and their host preferences. The main hosts for koels were
crows and common mynas. Conclusions were that the koels do not show
preference for which crow or which myna species. However, one
under-graduate thesis showed a distinct preference for large-billed crow
nests, at least in the Minden / Gelugor area. At that time, large-billed
were much more common than present. As for common myna, its probably coz of their nesting habits - Chinese crested and Jungle tend to nest in banks rather than trees and roof eaves.
In Sarawak,Tony Sebastian tracked the spread of common & white-vented for some years now, and its only with the advent of mynas have the Koel's population proliferated in urban areas - there are no crows in east Malaysia. Prior to the mid-80s, koels were rare jungle birds and winter visitors to the coast and islands - now they are everywhere in towns.
In the 80s, some work was done by the faculty of biology, USM, on
parasitic cuckoos and their host preferences. The main hosts for koels were
crows and common mynas. Conclusions were that the koels do not show
preference for which crow or which myna species. However, one
under-graduate thesis showed a distinct preference for large-billed crow
nests, at least in the Minden / Gelugor area. At that time, large-billed
were much more common than present. As for common myna, its probably coz of their nesting habits - Chinese crested and Jungle tend to nest in banks rather than trees and roof eaves.
In Sarawak,Tony Sebastian tracked the spread of common & white-vented for some years now, and its only with the advent of mynas have the Koel's population proliferated in urban areas - there are no crows in east Malaysia. Prior to the mid-80s, koels were rare jungle birds and winter visitors to the coast and islands - now they are everywhere in towns.
Thanks for the info. Always wondered which bird makes the unique gibbon sounding whoop. They are common visitors to our garden in Bukit Jelutong. At first glance, they look like crows, but definitely don't sound like one.
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