Sing to find!

A male Koel has been in our property for about two weeks and its bird song could be heard most of the day from the front area of the property.

Yesterday I sighted a female Koel amidst the branches devoid of leaves, just outside our courtyard. It flew away in the direction of the birdcall of the male Koel.

In fact it is since 2001, I sighted a female Koel, the last begin in the CMC Vellore campus, on the road leading to our house on 35o south road. I have a picture of that bird hanging on the wall of the consultation room in the hospital.  

It seems that they can be silent during summer thus 'overlooked and recorded as absent' according to Salim Ali. It becomes noisy during summer. The male  bird's  call of Kuoo begins low, 'rises in scale with each successive Kuoo until it reaches a fever pitch at the seventh or eight, and breaks off abruptly', to commences again after a pause. The female Koel utters a sharp Kik-kik-kik sounds and dashes from tree to tree. 

They nest between April and August and use the nest of the crows. 

I seems that the male Koel would continue its birdcalls even after it found its partner. 

So it sings not just for its needs alone, it gives away its song to all those who care to listen!

As it is one of the first birds in our property whose birdcalls I hear each morning,  I have become familiar with its usual flight stations between trees in the garden. As they are perched high in foliage, its movement or birdsong alone can help in sighting them!

I look forward to sight them together in the same tree!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)