Brood parasites

When I heard my first Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea), I thought it was an Argus Pheasant. How could I make such a mistake — koels go ko-el while Argus Pheasants go kuau-waau! Very wishful thinking on my part. Now koels have become such common birds in KL, thanks to their habit of preying on nesting common crows, that their misidentification is impossible, even though they are seldom seen.

Bear Stearns on duty. He really doesn't blink.

My kitten Bear likes to look out the window (left). He is also a keen student of wildlife in the city, and the habits of man. Unfortunately, he isn’t very clever, so when a big black crow swooped down on him out of the blue, he didn’t have the sense to run away. Luckily I was there to frighten the crow away, and now the big cat Huki and I keep an eye on him.

I think the crow was so protective because it had a nest nearby. The second time the crow attacked, there was a strange creature perched in the tree beneath our window. The crow was protecting it, but the creature didn’t act like a crow and didn’t look like a crow. It could have been a juvenile koel that the crow had raised, which was beginning to leave the nest except that all the websites indicate that the juvenile koel is brown and barred like the adult female koel, but and this one was definitely black. Couldn’t see the colour of the eye from so far away, but it didn’t appear red. After a while it got nervous of our attention and flew off down the street.

Strange bird in tree.

Bear Stearns on duty. He really doesn’t blink.

So how?