“It was a hot afternoon at half past three yesterday when I kept hearing the familiar harsh calls of a female juvenile Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) LINK coming from the Brown Heart trees (Andira inermis) in front of my apartment. This was rather unusual as birds were normally quiet at this time of the day when the temperature went up. I went down to look for the female but instead found a juvenile male, which was moulting into adult plumage, perching on a branch
“I was disappointed because my previous experience told me that only female juvenile made this kind of harsh calls, and it seemed that my previous observations were not entirely correct. As I watched, occasionally it would close the eyes (at least for the right eye) for a few seconds, showing the pale lower eyelid, as if it was taking a quick nap.
“As time went by the juvenile male stayed silent while the harsh calls continued to be heard from the same tree, as you can hear in the video. Even as I failed to sight the female koel, my observation of only juvenile female makes the harsh calls has not been proven wrong.
“I thought I could have a peaceful time locating the female without being bothered by crows, as they would normally disappear somewhere at this time of the day. However, soon they (presumably the foster parents) were heard and the male juvenile flew away. The female juvenile also was no longer heard, perhaps left without me seeing it. This pair of koels may have come from a nearby nest.”
Sun Chong Hong
Singapore
19th April 2012
Addendum:
“I have stated previously that only female juvenile Asian Koel made the harsh calls. I have now evidence to show that male juv koel makes the same calls too.
“The edited video was made from clips recorded yesterday (20th Apr) at about 9 am at another location in my condo. Two male juvenile koels moulting into adult plumage were seen together in a trumpet tree (Tabebuia rosea). Notice that the irises of both birds have not changed to the adult colour of crimson. At 4″, the juvenile at the top of the screen made its first call. This was followed by two more at 12″ and 29″ respectively, almost drowned out by the roaring noise of an airplane flying overhead. These two were likely to be the same pair (one seen and one heard) that I came across on 18 April.” Sun Chong Hong
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