# My new most hated animal



## snakeluvver (Nov 20, 2011)

No sleep last night, was kept up by the world's most irritatingly loud, horrible bird ever.
This morning, done some research and found the culprit for the hideous call.

Channel Billed Cuckoo, Scythrops novaehollandiae 
The world's largest and noisiest cuckoo.Want to hear just how annoying it is? Click on this link for its call (hope this link's allowed?)
http://birdsinbackyards.net/images/audio/scythrops-novaehollandiae.mp3


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## jedi_339 (Nov 20, 2011)

I love channel billed cuckoos, they always signify the weather is warming up to me 

Take comfort in the fact that up this way they're migratory so they're not here annoying you all year round


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## Ramsayi (Nov 20, 2011)

I've posted this before but anyway.They nest breed here every year.Can't say the noise bothers me.The kookaburras here are much noisier,sometimes they start going off in the middle of the night and can carry on for ages.


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## snakeluvver (Nov 20, 2011)

Ramsayi said:


> I've posted this before but anyway.They nest breed here every year.Can't say the noise bothers me.The kookaburras here are much noisier,sometimes they start going off in the middle of the night and can carry on for ages.


Well the cuckoo we had was right outside my window and wouldnt shut up for about 2 hours after it started. By then it was 4 in the morning and I was not pleased.

I must admit though, they are impressive looking birds. They look like birds of prey.


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## crosswire (Nov 20, 2011)

So that's what that Bird is! We have them here too. They just started their 'cuckooing' during the night a month or so back. It sounds like it is in a tree in the front yard but I'm not so sure! 

Rather loud but doesn't interupt my sleeping.


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## abnrmal91 (Nov 20, 2011)

Humans that is all


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## Nighthawk (Nov 20, 2011)

I must admit the bird life over here took some getting used to. My first night I spent in a tent, woke up blearily and dreamily listening to the magpies warbling, equating in my head and pre-dawn fuzz to the tui and bellbirds I was used to, only to be interrupted by a loud brackish 'CAW' right outside the tent.
Safe to say I crapped myself lmao. Love it now though


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## Pythoninfinite (Nov 20, 2011)

Channel-bills are fantastic, for the above reasons. They sound prehistoric to me, and their calls reverberate around the valleys from early October here at home.

Jamie


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## FAY (Nov 20, 2011)

hahahaha why don't they sleep all night like other birds lol

Those Koels are annoying as well. LOL


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## Herpaderpa (Nov 20, 2011)

THATS WHAT THAT IS! There have been several nights I wanted to hunt down the bird responsible and choke it to death LOL I am a very light/poor sleeper, I hear everything


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## Smithers (Nov 20, 2011)

I had only 1 sighting of this bird when living in Penrith for 38yrs, and the distinctive noise had me bolting out the door to see what it was....and such a huge bill. Def a kool bird.


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## snakeluvver (Nov 20, 2011)

Smithers said:


> I had only 1 sighting of this bird when living in Penrith for 38yrs, and the distinctive noise had me bolting out the door to see what it was....and such a huge bill. Def a kool bird.


It woke me up at 2 in the morning and had me shaking haha.

Ok I dont hate them but theyre extremely annoying. They look pretty awesome, but I'd appreciate it if they could just sit on a branch and calmy "cuckoo" like a cuckoo should lol


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## Smithers (Nov 20, 2011)

I used to think the same of pigeons when a kid trying to sleep in,...i had a power line full right up to the bedroom window cooing each other same pattern over n over n ......Maybe a recording of an eagle screech might make it go away :/


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## Dark_Morelia (Nov 20, 2011)

I _love_ hearing Channel-bills, and Koels too. When you hear them you know spring is pretty much sprung! 
Sure, they're big ugly things, but I love watching them too.

Maybe I'm just odd (not really much of a maybe) but I love laying in bed at night listening to the Cuckoos, Koels, Boobooks, and diesel locomotives hauling up and down the mountains.


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## snakeluvver (Nov 20, 2011)

I like boobooks, and Koels really dont bother me at all. But I just cant stand the cuckoos. They just sounds... scary


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## MathewB (Nov 20, 2011)

Well I'd rather have that bird than bloody bats fighting outside my balcony


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## Fang101 (Nov 20, 2011)

Haha, cockatoo's can be very noisey. Whenever we're at caboolture there's one of those sulphur crested cockatoos thats so annoying you want to put it out of its misery.


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## Smithers (Nov 20, 2011)

This was every morning a year or so ago,..around the 6am mark. I lived backing onto a golf course.

View attachment 226870


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## Mighty_Moose (Nov 20, 2011)

I don't know what you're complaining about, I'd do anything to have that making noise at night... All I've got is trucks,cars,backfires, loud arabic music and there has been "gun like" noises, but hey the Ibrahims are just down the road... I'm thinking of getting the loudest frog species possible to try to drown out the 'city"...


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## Bluetonguesblack (Nov 20, 2011)

I did some homework on these noisey buggers about 10 or so yrs back. They seem to have gone quiet in the last week or so here. Sometimes they go off through the night but usually the early morn hrs.


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## shabori (Nov 20, 2011)

I get channel bills in care often. You really need to feel sorry for the poor peewee who was trying to raise it as its mother layed her eggs in its nest. All cuckoos do this.


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## thals (Nov 20, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> Want to hear just how annoying it is? Click on this link for its call (hope this link's allowed?)
> http://birdsinbackyards.net/images/audio/scythrops-novaehollandiae.mp3



Reminds me of the 'Psycho' theme :lol:


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## Jen (Nov 20, 2011)

I loved these when i was at home, what used to keep me awake was the screaming peacocks that my sister has in an aviary right outside what was my window (it's her window now and the birds are being relocated lmao)


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## snakeluvver (Nov 20, 2011)

MathewB said:


> Well I'd rather have that bird than bloody bats fighting outside my balcony


I had that in winter but its gone now and has been replaced with this.
And trust me, this bird is way worse. Much louder and much creepier.



Mighty_Moose said:


> I don't know what you're complaining about, I'd do anything to have that making noise at night... All I've got is trucks,cars,backfires, loud arabic music and there has been "gun like" noises, but hey the Ibrahims are just down the road... I'm thinking of getting the loudest frog species possible to try to drown out the 'city"...


I have bushland behind my house but just behind that is a highway. So I get all the car noises your talking about as well as the birds.


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## jham66 (Nov 20, 2011)

Channel billed cuckoos are a crafty bird! they lay their egg in another birds nest. The egg they lay is laid to be of similar size and colour to the "host" nest so as to not be rejected by their new mother. The cuckoos egg has a shorter incubation period to their host bird, being first to hatch, the young cuckoo wedges the other eggs between it's "elbows" behind it's back and one by one rolls them out of the nest!!

The cuckoo then eats all the food it can get and often outgrows its "foster mother".


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## Fuscus (Nov 20, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> No sleep last night, was kept up by the world's most irritatingly loud, horrible bird ever.
> This morning, done some research and found the culprit for the hideous call.
> 
> Channel Billed Cuckoo, Scythrops novaehollandiae
> ...





jham66 said:


> Channel billed cuckoos are a crafty bird! they lay their egg in another birds nest. The egg they lay is laid to be of similar size and colour to the "host" nest so as to not be rejected by their new mother. The cuckoos egg has a shorter incubation period to their host bird, being first to hatch, the young cuckoo wedges the other eggs between it's "elbows" behind it's back and one by one rolls them out of the nest!!
> 
> The cuckoo then eats all the food it can get and often outgrows its "foster mother".


Their host is the crow. Crows hate them for obvious reasons and will mob CBCs any chance they get. Sometimes you can see crows mobbing CBCs at a huge height.
We are currently in the middle of keol city, there must be 8 (parasitized wattle bird) nests nearby. I like the sound and considering we have flocks of sulphurs and corellas who fly by most mornings they are one of the most pleasant morning birds. Kookaburra on the balcony at 4 are not so welcome, perhaps I shouldn't feed them


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## jham66 (Nov 20, 2011)

I must have been reading about a different type of Cuckoo, apparently the channel billed do not eject the host eggs or kill the young, but because they are larger they can muscle in and get most of the food.


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## Sock Puppet (Nov 21, 2011)

Fuscus said:


> Their host is the crow.


 Near us they lay in the local currawong's nests. The currawongs got away with it this year though, & raised their own little pied babies. And the noisy miners still do a gallant, yet largely ineffective effort at driving off the channel bills when they drop in. 

I love the channel bills & koels (rainbirds) heralding the start of the warmer weather, & much prefer to hear them any time of day or night than the garbage imports like the indian mynahs, starlings etc.


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## GeckPhotographer (Nov 21, 2011)

Hmm, really I've never heard these at night. Quite often get them in the late afternoon though. Great birds.


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## cwebb (Nov 21, 2011)

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA i just lolled as soon as i heard that hahahah sucks to be you!!!


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## Chris1 (Nov 21, 2011)

lol, we have 1 that starts in the wee hours of teh morning,...im half deaf so i dont notice it, until my bf jumps up screaming something about that f-ing bird,...so now we call it the f-ing bird hahaha


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## Bel03 (Nov 21, 2011)

I cant say i have heard them.......but i was expecting something much worse when opening your file! You should come for a sleepover at my place........between our cockatiels & ring neck.......you have no hope of sleeping past 4.30-5am. & prior to that.......its either the wild frogs or my feral kids! :lol:


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## mysnakesau (Nov 21, 2011)

So that's who makes that noise. I love them birds.  I didn't know what they looked like either, so thanks for the photo Ramsayi.


We have one here that sounds worse than that - I think its a wattle bird, not sure, but I might check that site out and find out


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## snakeluvver (Nov 23, 2011)

Just got woken up by one, but it's okay since its light. Doesn't seem as scary in the light lol
I'm now sitting outside trying to spot one since I could clearly hear one pass my window but what do you know, once you get out and look for them they shut up hah



Fuscus said:


> Their host is the crow. Crows hate them for obvious reasons and will mob CBCs any chance they get. Sometimes you can see crows mobbing CBCs at a huge height.


Just read this, very interesting. Explains why I always hear crows cawing when the cuckoos are around.


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## samuelsss (Nov 25, 2011)

*Loud Noise*

sound proof your walls


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## snakeluvver (Nov 29, 2011)

Managed to spot some at 5am this morning, they are quite impressive looking birds. A small flock flew overhead being chased by some clearly aggravated ravens. The cuckoos were silent for once, only making a slight clicking noise with their beaks.


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## snakeluvver (Dec 28, 2011)

Theyre still here, and instead of flying over doing their usual 5-6am call, theyve ROOSTED outside and are now calling all day and all night. For the past 4 nights in a row Ive been woken up at 3-4am and not been able to get back to sleep, and its taking its toll, to the point Im begging my mum to let us move house.


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## Recharge (Dec 28, 2011)

Herpaderpa said:


> THATS WHAT THAT IS! There have been several nights I wanted to hunt down the bird responsible and choke it to death LOL I am a very light/poor sleeper, I hear everything



learn to sleep with ear plugs, I'll admit it takes a while to get used to them, but once you are, the best sleep ever! you don't ear bugger all! wooo! haha


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## Fantazmic (Dec 28, 2011)

snakeluvver said:


> No sleep last night, was kept up by the world's most irritatingly loud, horrible bird ever.
> This morning, done some research and found the culprit for the hideous call.
> 
> Channel Billed Cuckoo, Scythrops novaehollandiae
> ...



I just played that tape and my poor husband who is lying asleep beside me leapt out of his skin lol


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## -Peter (Dec 28, 2011)

I dont even notice them these days, the neighbours of course claim I introduced them to the area along with all the other wildlife as there wasn't any around before I moved here. They even rang NPWS and the council.
If you know which tree it is set the hose up so that you can go out and squirt the tree. It will fly off. This always worked for me.


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## mattyg (Dec 28, 2011)

my most hated animal is also a bird and its the myna bird. lucky in aus they are a pest and im allowed to kill them with my slingshot/air rifle/.22 cal and compound bow


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## -Peter (Dec 28, 2011)

mattyg said:


> my most hated animal is also a bird and its the myna bird. lucky in aus they are a pest and im allowed to kill them with my slingshot/air rifle/.22 cal and compound bow



Unfortunately there aren't that many where you are able to legally use those items.


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## snakeluvver (Dec 28, 2011)

-Peter said:


> I dont even notice them these days, the neighbours of course claim I introduced them to the area along with all the other wildlife as there wasn't any around before I moved here. They even rang NPWS and the council.
> If you know which tree it is set the hose up so that you can go out and squirt the tree. It will fly off. This always worked for me.


We back onto bushland so there are a lot of trees there :/
The magpies and crows do a good job of stopping them from roosting for long, but they always come back.


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## Leasdraco (Dec 28, 2011)

Im a bit of a bird nerd and spotted a pair of cuckoos a few days ago.fortunately havent heard them near our place though.they sound like buzz saws! apart from the cacophany of frogs outside,we hear plovers all the time.


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## snakeluvver (Dec 28, 2011)

Anyone know when they leave Australia to migrate to Indonesia? Ive read February, so just one more month of this torture. Seriously, its so bad that Ive asked my mum to change our trip plans from Mackay to Melbourne so I can get out of the geographical range of the cuckoos.


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## mmafan555 (Dec 28, 2011)

Come on bro...Their is no possible way you can hate these things more than ticks...Not buying it


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