Adult koel feeding a juvenile
Posted by BESG on 18 May 07, Friday
Contributed by Sunjoy Monga
The Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) is a brood parasite. In Singapore the bird lays its eggs in the nest of the House Crow (Corvus splendens). In India it parasitises the nest of the House Crow as well as that of the Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos). Once the koel’s egg hatches, the chick will be looked after by the crows until the former is able to fend for itself.
It is thus surprising when Sunjoy Monga reported seeing an adult female Asian Koel feeding a juvenile koel in Mumbai, India:
“Earlier this morning (28th Apr, c. 0730 hrs) when on a walk along Lokhandwala Back Road and near the BMC lagoon (in Andheri west, suburban Mumbai), I came across some weird shrieking calls from the overgrown foliage along the path.
“A closer check revealed the presence of an adult female koel (left bottom) and near it was a wee-bit slender-of-form, much-darkish, speckled bird that she was feeding, in fact just had finished a bout of shoving food in the juvenile’s beak that was responding as is typical of a just-fed fledgling. The juvenile was instantly recognisable as a (full-fledged) juvenile koel that I have seen on numerous occasions earlier (left top).
“A bit too early in the season to see a juvenile koel got me wondering. Then I recollected having seen a Large-billed (Jungle) Crow pair nesting not far a few weeks ago near the electric sub-station not far from here (and which I checked today had fallen off considerably). This species invariably breeds earlier than the commoner House Crow and it is not often that I have come across the Large-billed’s nest parasitised by a koel in this region (in fact I think only on a couple of occasions years ago have Jos and I definitely seen so).
“What was most interesting was watching the female koel feeding the juvenile of her species even as a solitary Large-billed Crow twice made a charge at the scene of activity, evidently to flush away the adult koel who responded with her typically boisterous screams and flew off across into the mangrove and foliage. The young koel meanwhile continued with its hysterical shrieking and the crow appeared as if to feed it but was disturbed by much human movement (morning walkers and a gawking birder I guess) and retreated. A White-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis) pair called hysterically which I knew was agitated because their own nest was not very from this spot.
“I waited not far to observe and about two minutes later the female koel reappeared a tree away but was chased away by the crow that arrived at the scene. Pretty soon the juvenile koel too took off across the waterbody with the crow trailing it.
“I made a dash home, about half a kilometre away to pick my camera and try capture this scene and waited an hour more. However, during this time I could not relocate the birds though the crow continued to appear around intermittently and the koel’s familiar crying could be heard in the distance.
“Years ago, we had seen in Kandivli, a female koel feeding a lone koel fledgling. I wonder if any other cuckoo species have been seen feeding their own juveniles reared by another species? Has the koel adult ever been observed feeding juvenile crows too?”
Images by YC.
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Categories: Feeding chicks
Comment by suji
Made Monday, 21 of May , 2007 at 5:57 pm
Wow! that’s amazing, I never thought Koel’s kept track of their young!! What are those fruits on the nest on which the male Koel is sitting.
Comment by admin
Made Thursday, 24 of May , 2007 at 9:13 am
Fruits of the Alexandra palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae).
Pingback by I And The Bird #50 [A Blog Around The Clock] · New York Articles
Made Thursday, 31 of May , 2007 at 2:21 pm
[...] of the Bird Ecology Study Group wrote about an Adult koel feeding a juvenile. “This is a strange situation where the feeding should be done by the juvenile’s foster [...]
Pingback by Birdfreak Birding Blog » Blog Archive » I and the Bird #50
Made Friday, 1 of June , 2007 at 6:10 am
[...] were some really interesting posts in this edition. One bird called an Asian Koel that lives in Singapore and India. Here in the United States, we especially love reading about such [...]
Comment by Shyamal
Made Sunday, 14 of October , 2007 at 1:57 pm
A little research showed that there was prior literature on a number of brood parasitic cuckoos in which parents were seen feeding young. See the wikipedia page for Asian Koel.
Comment by admin
Made Sunday, 14 of October , 2007 at 2:58 pm
Thanks, Shyamal.
