‘Devil bird’: why the midnight cooee calls of the koel are driving Australians ‘insane’ this year

Sleep-deprived Australians are complaining about what they call a ‘devil bird’ as experts agree the koel’s breeding season is longer than usual. Photograph: Hal Beral/Getty Images

The crankiness of sleep-deprived east coast Australians driven “insane” by what they call a “devil bird” keeping them up through the night is palpable on the Reddit thread dedicated to the problem of the koel’s midnight calls.

Many on the thread were quick to come to the defence of the bird whose cooee calls they said heralded the Australian summer.