Koel (Indian Cuckoo)

It was the first week of June, and after a long hot and dry summer the first showers of monsoon had just fallen in Mumbai. Nature was rejoicing in the arrival of the rains. 

One morning, I was drawn to go over to my balcony as it had just started drizzling and I saw a beautiful spectacle.  A koel that had been perched in the upper reaches of a Peepal tree, in response to the falling rain, hopped a few times to get to the very top of the tree where the rain could fall on it unobstructed.  Then it spread out its wings and fanned out its tail, bowing its head down a little, in an enthusiastic greeting to the rain.  It held the welcome stance for what seemed like a couple of minutes as we watched, allowing as much of the rain to soak its feathers, as could.  It was a heartfelt welcome for the arriving monsoon.

The male koel is a handsome black bird, with deep red or crimson eyes and a light gray beak and deeper gray claws.  The female has a speckled brown and white coat.  The difference in the coats is stark.  I’ve spotted the male far more often than the female and perhaps the duller coat is designed for just that, to be better camouflaged.

The koel is perhaps the only bird that really benefits from the company of crows as it lays its eggs in a crow's nest.  The koel’s young is reared by the foster crow parent.  It has to time the laying of its eggs to coincide with the hatching of the crows clutch.  How successful is it?  Well the crow is prolific where the koel is relatively rare.  I’d wish the koel much greater success.  

The Koel or the Indian Cuckoo, is called ‘Kokila’ in Sanskrit.  I understand it primarily feeds on small fruit though it also eats insects. 

The most distinctive and best recognized trait of the koel is its sweet 'coo-oo-ooo' call.  Its melodious song has captivated people over centuries finding mention in numerous works of Indian prose and poetry and songs.  What the song of nightingale is to European or Persian literature, the koel is to Indian literature, I’d reckon.

From summer, with the onset of the mango season, till mid monsoon ie July-August, the koel is most vocal.  Its song can be heard loud and clear across great distances.  I have fond memories of listening to it sing early in the morning.  After mid-July in these parts song becomes less frequently heard.  

A well known couplet, attributed by some to the poet saint Kabir, on the importance of sweetness in speech, goes:  

"Kaga ka se let hai, koel ka ko det,
Mitha, mitha boli ke, jag apna kar let"

What does the crow take from anyone, and what does the koel give? 
Yet, by its sweet song, the koel endears itself to the world, like a person considered to be one's own.

One example of the high regard for sweetness of the koel's song.

^{Author:  Ruchir Bansal
Updated:  July 1, 2010}