Asian Koel

What the Asian Koel sounds like

Recorded by craig wilson · Call · Guindy Race Course (near Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India · CC BY 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Ujjal Kishor De · Duet, flight call, song · Paddy fields (near Kumarghat), Tripura, India · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Sudipto Roy · Song · Magnum Park View Building (near Kolkata), Kolkata, West Bengal, India · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Asian Koel

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is February, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Asian Koel

The map shades 25 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in Japan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Kuwait.

About the Asian Koel

The Asian koel is a member of the cuckoo family of birds, the Cuculidae. It is found in the Indian subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with the closely related black-billed koels, and Pacific koels which are sometimes treated as subspecies. The Asian koel, like many of its related cuckoo kin, is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young. They are unusual among the cuckoos in being largely frugivorous as adults. The name koel is echoic in origin with several language variants. The bird is a widely used symbol in Indian, Pakistani and Nepali poetry.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Pacific KoelEudynamys orientalisThe Pacific Koel can be identified by its black plumage, often tinted with blue and green, and red eyes. Black-billed KoelEudynamys melanorhynchusThe black-billed koel is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.

Side by side: Asian Koel vs Pacific Koel