Geoff's Gallery:   Eastern Koel (1/6)

CUCULIFORMES: Cuculidae

Eudynamys orientalis  

Ah, the dulcet tones of the Eastern Koel heralding the arrival of Spring, are a familiar and welcome sound to Brisbanites.

Welcome, that is, if it is calling in the next suburb. You don't want it calling in your street and you certainly don't want it calling in a tree outside your bedroom window in the dead of night where you lie awake wondering if the glass is going to crack.

Neverthless, it is a striking bird with its glossy dark coat and its demented red eye and eventually you get used to it singing a duet with the local Bush Stone-curlews in the wee hours.