Asian Koel

Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus)


My friend Mr Selva called me yesterday. He said a a pair of young birds was blown off the nest in the storm.

I took the birds back to nurse them as they were not ready to fly.

Indeed it is a pair of Asian Koel. The host was the common myna nesting in the grounds of the Tampoi hospital. It is very interesting to note that the Mynas can nurse two parasites which is almost twice their body size. I wonder how much efforts were put in by the foster parents.

I suddenly begin to marveled how my wife and I can raise two daughters, nurture them through university and have enough capacity left to love the birds we enthusiastically photographed.

.............all the more we should celebrate Mother's day ......and Father's day for that matter.

E T Lee


15th May, 2009

When the birds were first brought home, they were weak, dehydrated and a bit disorientated.
The female weighted about 135 gram.
I force feed some water and oral fed about 0.1 cc of an antibiotics ,Baytril (active ingredient enrofloxacin).
The birds were not enthusiastic about food for the next two days, which is not a very good sign for birds at this age. . I force fed them chicken feed using an apparatus I improvised from a normal 3 cc syringe.
On the third day the birds were eager about food and the video above showed they readily eat from the feeding apparatus without any help.
The baby birds are noticeably gaining weight.