The first fiddle in the chorus at dawn

Seasons occur annually with the changing climate and weather patterns. Fauna and flora adapt through instinct to such changes. We, humans, have cultural practices based on these seasonal changes. Very soon Sri Lanka will celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, a cultural event celebrated through ages by our farmer population. The annual inter-monsoonal rains occurring in March / April triggers off natural instincts within the fauna to breed and the time is right with the flora to flower and fruit. It’s springtime; and a hive of natural activity, birds and beasts start looking for suitable partners and the flora begins to bloom attracting bees and insects to pollinate, resulting in fruiting that support the new arrivals of the fauna, which disperses seeds in nature’s way. Thus the arrival of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year is symbolic with the Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea / Sinhala-Koha / Tamil-Kuil) and the blooming of Eramudu (Erythrina indica).  The otherwise quiet Asian Koel turns out to be very vociferous during this time looking for a suitable mate. These high decibel calls to a mate relate the arrival of the New Year as well the misconception that the Koel has made its annual migration. The Asian Koel is not a migrant to the country but a breeding resident. What is unique is its breeding habit. Almost all Koels and the Cuckoos are brood parasites. They lay eggs in a host nest and the host brings up the fledglings.  For this, they have to be on time with the breeding pattern of the host. The Asian Koel in Sri Lanka prefers the House Crow or the Jungle Crow as the host. The act of laying the egg in the host nest is done very stealthy.  The male Koel approaches the shabby nest of the crow in the pretext of snatching an egg from the clutch. This encourages the crow to attack and pursue him, which leaves the nest unattended and ready for the female to deposit her egg. In this process, she may remove a host egg which has no relation to numbers or counting but purely through instinct. A female will not stop from one host nest but would lay in several host nests. Her egg is larger than the host egg and will hatch in 12 to 14 days, about 3 days before the host’s. The chick is featherless when hatched and is said to have a very sensitive skin patch on its back. Anything that touches this patch irritates the chick and in the process of avoiding this irritation, the nest is made bare by pushing out the host eggs and other chicks. This leaves the parasitic chick with all the food resources and to grow up fast, to fledge in 20 to 28 days. By this time they are quite large and very much different to the foster parents in appearance but still depending on them for food. They now start mimicking the call of the juvenile crow and begging for food from its foster parents. This process would go on for almost a month at times. I managed to snap this begging activity after following the unusual call of the juvenile Koel. This, therefore, is a unique phenomenon on the part of the crow which otherwise is a cunning trouble maker in the avian world. The high decibel call of the Asian Koel is significant with culture and prediction throughout the South and Southeast Asian region going down to East Australia which is home to the Australian Koel. The Rain Bird whose call coincides with the incoming wet weather. By the end of May, you would not hear the Koel and will be forgotten until March-April next Year. But if you are an early riser with good auditory senses you would still hear him. The Koel plays the first fiddle in the dawn chorus that we start hearing every day by 4.30 am. The writer is a Member of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka.
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