Just saw a strange sight - a Common Koel (male) eating red chillies! These chillies are the long red variety (see picture) and boy are they hot! I love chillies in my food but I can't use more than a half of one of these babies without blowing my head off. Must be something in the soil here because the ones in Woollies I can usually eat whole and raw.
Anyway this Koel ate three of them while I watched. Picked them off the bush, upended them and down the throat stem first. By the time I got my camera he was gone.
Has anyone else seen this? What else do they eat?
Really? That's amazing? Wonder if it's a common occurrance and they're just immune to the chilli's fire - or maybe a case of nicer in than coming out, don't think I'd like to stand under that Koel just in case the latter
Sorry, can't help with your question, but thanks for sharing such an interesting observation!
West Coast Tasmania
Well, it wasn't a fluke. I just went down to look at the garden and scared the Koel away from the chilli bush. Must have acquired a taste for them. The six chillies in the foreground of my pic have gone. Not many left on the bush so I better get some for myself.
As the Koel eats them whole I expect that there will soon be some chilli bushes growing underneath where he likes to roost.
Absolute chillie thief! Sounds like he has a real taste for them for sure
West Coast Tasmania
Let's hope the bush carers in the nearest bushland are alert to the regenerating chillies.