Subspecies Eudynamys orientalis cyanocephalus (Latham, 1801)
- Cuculus cyanocephalus Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [30] [based on the Blue-headed Cuckow in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (137), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 72 in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (120); for identity of drawing, see Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; type locality restricted here to central east coast of New South Wales because that region was the source of material for paintings of the Thomas Watling series, see Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 72 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia). - Eudynamys flindersii Vigors, N.A. & Horsfield, T. 1827. A description of the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15: 170-331 [Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [305] [based partly on specimen in coll. of Linnean Society London (now in BMNH) and partly on the Flinders Cuckoo in Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. III 416 pp. pls 38–59 (pp. 308–309), the latter in turn based on two specimens with the comment that they were from 'the north Coast of New Holland; met with there by Capt. Flinders, during his voyage of discovery. In Mr. Bullock's Museum'—material from both sources possibly the same; the 'north coast of New Holland' was referred to by Flinders, M. 1814. A Voyage to Terra Australis. London : G. & W. Nicol Vol. 2 613 pp. (114–252) as the land east of Torres Strait, westwards to Arnhem Bay, thus including the range of both Australian forms: flindersii Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 is referred here to the synonymy of cyanocephalus Latham, 1802 because its measurements in the original description and material in BMNH fit that form; Lectotypification effected under ICZN Art. 74(a); lectotype cited by Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (416) and Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. (99), incorrectly as holotype, labelled as from the north coast of QLD].
Type data:
Lectotype BMNH 1863.7.7.64 imm. ♂ (in near ♀ plumage, ex Linnean Society of London coll.), north coast of QLD (as north coast of New Holland).
Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex W. Bullock coll.).Subsequent designation references:
Shelley, G.E. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae-Cuculidae. London : British Museum Vol. 19 xii 484 pp. 13 pls. [325].Type locality references:
Mason, I.J. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [250] (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.). - Eudynamys australis Swainson, W. 1837. Animals in Menageries. In, Lardner, D. (ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman & John Taylor Vol. 6(98) 373 pp. [publication dated 13 Jan. 1838] [344] [as Eudynamis Australis].
Type data:
Holotype UMZC (institution uncertain), New South Wales (as Australia).Type locality references:
Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Mason, I.J. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [250] (based on Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.)
Distribution
States
New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Coastal and subcoastal east Australia, breeding north to lower Burdekin and Suttor River drainages, QLD, south to Mallacoota, VIC, and west inland to summit ridges of Great Dividing Range—also Fraser Is. and islands in Moreton Bay—on migration to west slopes of Great Dividing Range (Brindabella, Herveys, Warrumbungle and Nandewar Ranges, NSW, and Darling Downs, Mitchell, Blackall and Richmond, QLD), and across all north Australia from Cape York Peninsula around Gulf of Carpentaria drainage west to Arnhem Land and Victoria River drainage, NT, and Kimberley Division, WA, south to Fitzroy-Margaret Rivers—also, on migration, northern offshore islands: Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, Wellesley Ils and islands in Torres Strait, reaching western Papuan islands, Moluccas and east Lesser Sundas.
IBRA
NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)
Other Regions
Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
- Queensland: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
- Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Western Australia: N coastal
- Indonesia
- Irian Jaya
- Papua New Guinea
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, crepuscular, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.
Extra Ecological Information
Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, solitary or in dispersed groups, skulks in foliage of vine and gallery forests where feeds on figs, mistletoe drupes and exotic fruits, and to a lesser extent on insects by perch-and-pounce sallying, males more pugnacious and less secretive than females and call incessantly alone or antiphonally with mated females during breeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly larger honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), oriolids (Oriolidae), magpie-larks (Grallina Vieillot, 1816) and drongos (Dicrurus Vieillot, 1817), lays pink-buff eggs marked chestnut and brown, migrates south to breeding range Sept.-Oct., the males arriving first and singing, and north to winter range Jan.-Apr.
General References
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)
Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Non-Passerines. Alderley, Qld : Dove Publications Vol. 1 464 pp. 493 pls. (morphology, feeding, voice, nidification, taxonomy)
Crouther, M.M. 1985. Some breeding records of the Common Koel Eudynamys scolopacea. Australian Bird Watcher 11: 49-56 (morphology, nidification, behaviour)
Crouther, M.M. & Crouther, M.J. 1984. Observations on the breeding of figbirds and Common Koels. Corella 8: 89-92 (nidification)
Disney, H.J. de S. 1992. Ageing, sexing and plumage of the Australian Koel Eudynamys cyanocephala. Corella 16: 97-103 (morphology)
Dudman, T.D. & Dudman, D. 1979. Koel behaviour. Sunbird 10: 78 (behaviour)
Gosper, D. 1962. Breeding records of the Koel. Australian Bird Watcher 1: 226-228 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)] (nidification)
Gosper, D. 1964. Observations on breeding of the Koel. The Emu 64: 39-41 [Browning, M.R. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1991. Clarifications and corrections of the dates of issue of some publications containing descriptions of North American birds. Arch. Nat. Hist. 18: 381–405 (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp., Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)) Rossem, A.J. van 1946. Dates for volume 1 of Bonaparte's 'Conspectus Generum Avium'. Auk 63: 243] (nidification)
Guthrie, T.H. 1972. Koels displaying. Australian Bird Watcher 4: 168-169 (behaviour)
Mason, I.J. in Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (consultant eds) 1986. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds. Sydney : Reader's Digest 639 pp. [326] (morphology, nidification, behaviour)
Roberts, N.L. 1961. Koel display and courtship. The Emu 61: 242-243 (nidification, display)