What's black, male and sings in the garden?

 

A handsome black bird has taken up residence in a shrub right next to the
house about 4m from my bedroom window.  It has been sitting there most of
the time for the last three days sometimes making an generic 'cheep cheep'
call that is not very distinctive.  Then yesterday it experimentally made a
'wurra wurra wuura' call which I recognised.  I headed straight for the bird
book and there is his portrait - a male Koel.  We have called him Nat of
course.

This bird is frequently heard much more than seen in east coast gardens.  It
is a migratory cuckoo that mates in spring around here and winters in the
far north. The mating call, which carries for hundreds of metres, can be
given all day and night.  Is the most irritating insistent crescendo of
'wooooooooop wooooooooop WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP' over and over and over again.
If he starts that in the middle of the night I am going to cut down the
shrub.

Nat is very wet and sorry for himself at the moment (it's raining yea!) and
hasn't said a thing for hours.  I wonder if he could be bribed to stay
quiet, perhaps some slices of mango, a big fat grub.....

David

 



Or a hose if he is quiet when wet???????

 



Ernie Dingo

 

g'dau david,

yep and she very drab looking, and when in company if you have fruit
of any sort growing they will be wanting to eat it, very sneeky birds
that fly low and sit right in the middle of the trees making them
harder to see.

in rural i used to listen for them as they set up for a visit then
come out and shoosh them of just as they flew in, him from one
direction her from another.

comon name storm birds probably because their call was heard just
before a storm occured at sometime or other.

we have a male in our sector at present still calling for a mate.

if you grow your own fruit, tomato's whatever (they don't go for
citrus) just the soft sweet stuff, then i'd be saying distract
him/them from your garden, i also think as like most or all of the
cuckoo family they lay their eggs in other native birds nest by
dumping the native birds eggs out and laying theirs in there instead.



On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:38:48 +1100, "David Hare-Scott"

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

 

 
Kamahl?