The pair of male Asian koels perched on the curry leaf tree

A pair of male Asian koels decided to stop by on our sprawling curry leaf tree. They perched unusually low down for them – just about human height – and weren’t bothered by human and dog traffic in the vicinity. Well, not at first, anyway.

It was interesting to get such a close look at them, because in my experience, they’re usually way up in the trees, and tend to fly off when you simply pass by. They’ve startled me many times doing that, because they’re out of sight, and usually quiet when they’re feeding – and when they suddenly burst out of the foliage and fly off, it’s quite noisy.

So, this pair of males perching where we could all see each other was an unusual situation.

They weren’t shy until I came around with the camera. Then, every time I tried to frame a shot, they’d hop just a bit and hide behind some leaves! However, without the camera, I was intrigued to note again their resemblance to crows, except for the light-coloured beaks and scary red eyes.

You may be interested in reading my earlier post on male and female koels.

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