The Noisy Ati Kukula

Every year around the time of the Sinhala New Year comes a Whoop Oop Oop from the neighboring trees. It’s a loud birdcall of the Ati Kukula and this morning four of them were going at it and Whoop Oop Oop’ing it up. So loud that their calls woke me up.

I’ve seen this bird in my garden and I usually get Toby to chase it away. I had a nest of baby birds and my old house and an Ati Kukula snuck up and ate them! I’m not a fan of this bird, but I did learn that they eat snakes, and so if they are stalking around on the ground, I’ll let them be, but if they are in the trees where the other birds nest, I send out Toby!

They have red eyes and walk in a stalking manner. I’ve never seen it do its famous call, but I find them quite creepy.

As I write there are two of them calling to each other in the tree by my bedroom window. I wish I could get a sound bite for the blog. One time I was talking to my granddaughter in the US on my mobile and she heard the Ati Kukula whooping it up in the background. Made her miss the Sri Lanka she came to visit one year.

As for me, I could have used a bit more sleep this morning, instead of waking up to the Ati Kukulas calling to each other!

I've not gotten a photo of the New Years noise maker, so I took an image off the web and a video off youtube.

Web photo of the Ati Kukula

Below is a youtube video of it stalking around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_w3g-4r1Ls

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