Has anyone else in the upper Blue Mountains area heard cuckoos at night? The 'real' cuckoo-cuckoo sounds, not channel-billed or koel (although we get those too).
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I don't think any Australian cuckoos make the european cuckoo call. I live near Bathurst and have seen bronze, fantail, pallid and bush cuckoos but none make the cuckoo call. You may be hearing the powerful owl which makes a woo hoo call that is far carrying.
The pallid cuckoo has an ascending whistle which gets it called the brainfever bird.
Hi angiewb, have a listen to the call of the " Sothern Boobook", I think, you will find, that that is the call, that sounds coo-coo. (You can find it under- Birdfinder, on the Birds in Backyards website) I 'm sure what you hear is a Boobook. Tell me what you think.
M-L
Hi Araminta and Greg L
I've checked out various sounds (including European cuckoos which I know we don't get here) and although what I've heard isn't absolutely identical to the Boobook, that's the most likely option. It's a lovely 'cosy' sound to hear in the middle of the night.
As a matter of interest, Araminta, a bird which I could definitely identify from the site as a female Koel, flew under my pergola earlier in the summer and perched for a while on a deck chair. Often hear them here in Blackheath but this was the first time I'd ever seen one.
thanks for your help.
Yes, boobook (or morepork) sounds right. I lived at wentworth falls in the 80's and don't recall ever hearing a koel. They must be extending their range.
We don't get many koels, Greg but they are here. It was fascinating to see the beautiful plumage on the female that visited my house. We have plenty of channel-billed cuckoo calls in Spring/early Summer, which we could well do without in the early hours of the morning!
I was delighted to see a large quail foraging in my newly-weeded garden yesterday morning. From the website, it looked and behaved like a Buff-breasted Button Quail. I'd never seen one before and didn't even know they existed, since I'm a bit of a newbie to bird-watching.
Morning angiewb, did you find the sound of the S Boobook? If you have lived in Europe, and heard cuckoos like I have, they sound very much like Boobooks. Find the call of the S Boobook!We have 3 of them in the bush behind us, they are common all over Australia. Sometimes they call eachother all night,over long distances.( I'm sure that's what you are looking for)
M-L
The Southern Boobook sounds almost like the European Cuckoo.
Thanks, everyone, for your help. Boobook it must be.