The Pacific koels are right behind them . . .

On my way home from work last night, the unmistakable call of the Pacific koel echoed around the carpark.  It was just after 17:30 pm, and there were two birds involved in the distinct calls.

Again, this is my first observation of the species in the lower Hunter Valley for Spring 2017, and only important as an anecdotal observation - they are migratory and arrive and disappear roughly the same time every year. 

See these posts from last year - "The Cuckoos have arrived" and "The Eastern koels have finally reached Belmont..." .  The Channel-bills arrived on 29th Sept 2017 and the Koels on 1st October 2016.  

It seems that Spring truly is a little early this year.  The Australian raven that I saw carrying nesting material back on 13th of July 2017 was the first indication.  I wonder if the early nesting from the Australian raven is a strategy to help minimise the risk of nest parasitism by the Channel-bills & Koels?  As always, more observations are needed before this might hypothesise a deliberate strategy.  One anecdote is merely one anecdote - nothing more.      

The Channel-billed cuckoos are back

A mate and I were fishing in my little boat off Carey Bay on Lake Macquarie on Sunday morning, 17th September 2017.  We both heard the unmistakable, shrill call of a Channel-billed cuckoo echoing around the bay.  It was 8:20 am and conditions were still and calm.  There was not a cloud in the sky, no wind, but we could not see the bird to get a definite, visual identification.  However their call is absolutely unmistakable.  This was my first record of Channel-bills for Spring 2017.     

Looking back over my records, last year I first heard them on Sunday 25th September - in very similar circumstances.  Again, weather is obviously changing, the days are slowly getting longer, and the cuckoos are back.  The Koels should be here too - I'll have to keep an ear open for them.  

I have recorded this sighting with the Atlas of Living Australia.