Asian Koel

How to identify

Field marks

1. Large, long-tailed cuckoo; body length 39–46 cm
2. Male of the nominate subspecies blue-black, with dark red iris
3. Male of the nominate subspecies has pale greenish-gray bill and gray legs and feet
4. Female of the nominate subspecies has brown crown and heavily marked white underparts

Male, female and young

The male of the nominate subspecies is glossy blue-black; the female has a brown crown and dark brown back, rump and wing coverts with white and buff spots; juveniles resemble the male more closely above and have a black bill.

Voice

The male repeats “koo-Ooo”; the female gives a sharp “kik-kik-kik”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: February · Most records: India, Thailand, China

Asian Koel has been recorded at 1,566 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 24 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. GKVK CampusIndia14,039 records
2. Fergusson College CampusIndia5,106 records
3. IIT BombayIndia3,451 records

Countries and regions with the most records

IndiaThailandChinaSingaporeSri LankaNepalCambodiaBangladesh

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) 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.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions