The Not So Common Koel 

During a conversation with a visitor from Canberra recently I mentioned our lone Common Koel. 

For those of you who don't know, the Common Koel is native to the wetter coastal areas of New South Wales. It is particularly common in Sydney where it can be observed close-up in garden and street trees. A male bird arrived in Maldon late last December and its strong distinctive call, starting at around 4.30 am has been noticed by many residents. 

If you are confronted by a shiny blue-black bird around the size of a magpie and with bright ruby-red eyes, you are looking at our avian visitor.

The Canberra person looked surprisingly interested when I told her about the Koel. 

"Ah, it's working then!" she laughed.

When I asked what 'it' was exactly that was working, she said that lots of Common Koels had first visited Canberra about four years back and each year since. Canberrans, who have not appreciated the birds early morning call to them to get out of bed, have nick-named it the Noel bird because it arrives at Christmas.

So what did our visitor mean when she said "it's working".

"We all hoped and prayed that one day they would keep moving south and not hang around our part of the world. With luck, your single Noel will return home and next year it will lead all the other Noels to this part of the country for Christmas and hopefully by-pass Canberra completely."

Well, she might or might not be right. It's food for thought. This was the first wet spring and early summer we've had for a very long time and no one knows the particular effects that climate change might have on wildlife migratory habits. There have been suggestions that some animals and birds will move to areas where they have not been seen previously because of changed climate conditions.

Further checking discovered that Common Koel have been regularly sighted in the far South East and North East of Victoria, but never here in Central Victoria. Perhaps our Koel was blown here from there in a big storm?

When we no longer find ourselves woken up early in the mornings by our visitor's strident calls, it could mean that Mr Koel will be winging his way North, back to the beautiful forested foreshores of Sydney Harbour or the Hawkesbury River.