Big baby! Koel cuckoo fed by Red Wattlebird

It’s cuckoo season here on the east coast of Australia. We have several types of cuckoos that migrate to our shores for the summer months and get the local birds to feed their young. That’s right! Cuckoos lay their eggs in some other bird’s nest and fly away free as a … well, as a bird. The adoptive parent is often much smaller than the baby cuckoo, but it’s hornswoggled into feeding the youngster until the cuckoo is old enough to take care of itself.

One of the cuckoos that come to our shores is the Common Koel, also called the Eastern Koel. A couple of days ago, I saw a young Koel being fed by a Red Wattlebird:

https://youtu.be/TxR4GjTvG3k

In the video, you can hear the juvenile Koel chirping repeatedly, begging for food.

Here’s a photo of the big baby:

Adult Koels make quite a variety of sounds, including loud squawks and more melodic whistles. You can hear them in the video in this post. And you can see some shots of male and female adult Koels in other posts.

Common name: Common Koel, Pacific Koel, or Eastern Koel
Scientific name: Eudynamys orientalis (was scolopacea)
Approximate length: 45 cm
Date spotted: 3 December 2025 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°46’57.5″S 151°15’20.8″E

#australia #birds #birdwatching #cuckoo #easternKoel #sydneyBirds

Some more birds, taken on my lunchtime walk to the letterbox (and a bit further down the road).

#bird #AustralianWildlife #WildOz #BrownThornbill #SpangledDrongo #EasternKoel #AustralianMagpie

Decided I'm going to start posting my amateur photography of local wildlife and plants starting with this striking pair of eastern koels sitting in a tuckeroo tree

#birds #easternkoel #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #australia #birdsofaustralia