From Opus

Male
Photo by IanCPort Macquarie New South Wales, December 2006

Eudynamys cyanocephala

[edit] Identification

Male:

• Glossy black plumage, tinged with blue and green
• Red eye

Female:

• Glossy brown upperparts, heavily spotted with white
• Black crown
• Buff-cream underparts with fine black bars
  

Juvenile: resembles the adult female, but is more buff and has a dark eye.

Female
Photo by IanC
Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, January 2006

[edit] Distribution

Breeding from north-west Australia along the north coast and down to New South Wales. This species is mostly migratory, wintering to the Moluccan Islands.

[edit] Taxonomy

Australian Koel with two subspecies were split from Asian Koel and Black-billed Koel by some authorities, however, others still think that the best treatment is to consider all three as one species which would then be named Common Koel, Eudynamys scolopacea.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• E. c. subcyanocephalus:

• North-western Australia to north-western Queensland; winters to southern Moluccas

• E. c. cyanocephalus:

• Northern Queensland to southern New South Wales; winters to Moluccas

Juvenile
Photo by janha
Thuringowa, Queensland, Australia, January 2006

[edit] Habitat

Tall forests and suburbs and golf courses.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes fruit, particularly figs.

[edit] Breeding

It is a brood parasite, laying 1 egg.

[edit] In Culture

It is also colloquially known as the Rainbird or Stormbird in eastern Australia, as its call is supposed to foreshadow rain.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Birds in Backyards
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links