This picture of the male Asian koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young. They are unusual among the cuckoos in being largely frugivorous as adults. Frugivores are animals that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds.

The name koel is echoic in origin with several language variants. The bird is a widely used symbol in Indian and Nepali poetry. Here in Singapore, this bird is like our natural alarm clock with its loud calls in the wee hours of the morning. In Singapore, they are known to lay eggs in the nests of house crows and play an ecological role in helping to keep the population of the crows in check. The white spots on this bird's body is the water droplets from the light rain as it was drizzling here when the picture was taken.