Asian Koel

The Asian Koel with the scientific name Eudynamys scolopaceus is a large cuckoo species of the family Cuculidae.

It is a widespread resident in India and is found in South East Asia, China and South Asia. Asian Koel is a brood parasite and a superspecies closely related to pacific koels and black billed koels. There are 5 out of 14 subspecies of Asian Koel known to exist in various parts of India. The quick classification of Asian Koel is as below,

Scientific Classification

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Aves
Order	Cuculiformes
Family	Cuculidae
Genus	Eudynamys
Species	Eudynamys scolopaceus

Physical Characteristics:

It is a large cuckoo bird with long tail. They measure about 39 to 46 cm long and weigh about 190 to 237 g. The plumage of the male bird has glossy bluish black or greenish black plumage and has a pale green colored bill. The eyes are red, iris is crimson colored and has a grey feet and legs.The wings of the female are short but the tail is long.The female is brown on the crown and has rufous strikes on the head. The rump, back and wings are dark brown with white and buff spots.


The underparts of the bird are whitish but have heavy stripes. The upper plumage of the juveniles is similar to male and has a black beak.They show a pattern of moult which helps them to differentiate from other parasitic cuckoos. The outer parts show a transilient ascending moult, while the inner primaries have lesser moult. The flight of the bird is straight and fly high with rapid wing beats.

The various subspecies of Asian Koel are,


• Eudynamys scolopaceus scolopaceus - Found in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives
• Eudynamys scolopaceus chinensis - Found in Indochina, Southern China and Thai-Malay Peninsula.
• Eudynamys scolopaceus harterti - Found in Hainan.
• Eudynamys scolopaceus malayana- Found in Lesser Sundas, Greater Sundas, and Thai-Malay Peninsula.
• Eudynamys scolopaceus mindanensis - Found in Philippines, Halmahera, North Maluku and islands between Mindanao and Sulawesi

Behavior:

Asian Koel is an arboreal species and a shy bird mostly heard than spotted as they are hidden in the dense vegetation. When it is quiet it adopts a typical posture with the head and bill uptilted, long tail held downwards and hunched back without making any alarm. Like cuckoos, these species lay their eggs in other bird's nest. It's typical that they always choose the crow's nest. The male produces a very loud call "ko-eeul" when it finds a good crow's nest to keep its egg safe.

The female once heard come to lay her eggs into the nest where the male calls her. The eggs are hatched by the crow and called as crow. The bird produces very vocal, noisy, persistent and loud 'ko-el ko-el' call as well as other burbles and screams. Other call that are produced by male are 'kuhu, kuhu, kuhu' and whistles. Females produces rhythmic 'wook-wook' call and short, high-pitched whistles.

Food Habits:

Asian Koel feeds majorly on ripe fruits and berries. Their food also includes insects, eggs, caterpillars and small vertebrates. Adult Koel are often seen feeding fruits in Orchards. They defend their fruiting trees from other frugivorous birds. In India, they are noted to be important in dispersal of sandalwood tree seeds.

Small seeded fruits are ingested and are deposited at a far distance from the parent tree while the large seeded fruits are quickly ingested near the parent tree. Their large gape aids them to swallow large and hard fruits of palms. Occasionally they feed on eggs of small birds. They feed on fruits of Thevetia peruviana which are known to be toxic to mammals. These birds are used as cage birds and also feed on rice.

Asian Koel prefers staying in a dense thick forest with thick trees and bamboos,

light woodland and cultivation areas. Also, found in shrubby areas which have tall trees, woods, villages, towns and gardens and mangrove forest. It is the resident breeder of India and could also seen in Australia and southern Asia. Its range starts from India to New Guinea and Salmon islands. During the winter they migrate to warmer areas. Most of the population are resident in that range.

Mating and Nesting:

The breeding season of the bird depends on the place where they are living. The male attracts the female by its various displays. The courtship includes being very vocal and agitated. If the excited male sees a female, both start the courtship along large branches and dense trees. Asian Koel doesn't build any nest by itself. Koel parasitize the nest of Black Drongo, Black-headed Oriole and European Magpie. They look for the nests which are at lower heights and nearer to dense trees. The male distracts the host of the nest so that the female may get the chance to lay her eggs in the nest. A single egg is laid at a time.

They don't lay eggs in an empty host nest. The chicks are being hatched by the host especially crow. The eggs are grey in color and more or less look like a crow's egg. The egg is pale greyish-green or stony colored and smaller than the host eggs. The chicks get hatched in 12 to 14 days with the host chicks. The host egg is removed by the female Koel before laying its eggs.The chick fledges in 20 to 28 days period. The koel chick grows up faster than the host chicks. When young koel departs from the nest, it roosts in the outer branches of the tree. The female searches food for its hungry young. The male doesn't take part in feeding the young. Young one feeds on insects, eggs, caterpillars and small vertebrates.

Threats and conservation:

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has categorized Asian Koel as 'Least Concern' since this species is found extremely in large range and is very common throughout the countryside where there are more number of fruit producing trees.

The bird is found in various countries like India, Bangladesh,

China, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Viet Nam and Thailand. The range of this bird is being protected to avoid this bird hitting the vulnerability threshold.

Interesting facts about Asian Koel:

1. Asian Koel is the state bird of Jharakhand and Southern state of Pondicherry.
2. It is called by other names like Koel in Hindi, Koha in Sri Lanka and Kokila in Sanskrit.
3. They are used as reference in various myth, folklore and poetry being familiar for its loud call.
4. The song of the bird is heard on Traditional New year celebration of Sri Lankans since they believe that it has a strong association with their upcoming year.