We thought some of you might be interested in this report that
my partner Lynda just wrote up for the Blue Mountains WIRES newsletter.
Any thoughts, experiences or advice on the situation would be welcome.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kookaburras, Termite Mounds & Mudbrick Homes!
What do these have in common? Well, going by a group of Kookas in
Wentworth Falls, termite mounds and mud brick homes look pretty much the
same.
When Peter Foster rang me this week with a story from a member of the
public who had a Kookaburra burrowing into the front of her house, well
I just had to see this for myself.
But first I did a bit of reading about Kookaburra nesting habits. And
there it was in Graham Pizzy's "Field guide to the birds of Australia."
"Nest on decayed debris in hollow trunk, occasionally in a hole in creek
bank, termite nest, haystack or cavity in wall.
But this wasn't a pre existing cavity, we were told they were digging
the hole themselves. Was this possible?
So armed with binoculars, spotting scope and digital camera I arrived at
Lynne's place. As I pulled into her driveway I could see a beautiful mud
brick home with a high pitched roof. A round stained glass window was in
the centre of the front wall. Just above and to the right of the window,
could be seen a small hole approx 15 cm in diameter.
As I stopped the car a Kooka flew from the hole to a nearby branch to
join it's scruffy mate. Lynne showed me around the house and explained
that they dug from sunrise to sunset, which echoed through the house,
which to my surprise was only one brick thick. (approx 40 cm) . Those
birds may get a bigger cavity than they bargained for if they break
through to the other side.
As we discussed this fact, Lynne's familiar sound returned. "Scrape -
Scrape..."
I was outside in a flash, scope ready, camera in hand. The hole was now
filled with the backend of a Kookaburra wriggling and scraping. Then
suddenly a great cloud of dust was flushed from the hole. The bird was
then joined by the other, who seemed happy with the progress and then
returned to it's branch.
These birds are persistent. They had to break through chicken wire
spread on the wall to get to the bricks. Lynne has agreed to let the
birds continue their work and hopefully raise a couple of chicks, then
we are going to try and provide some alternative nesting accommodation
in place of the wall, a "possum box" style nest box with Kookaburra
dimensions fixed to the house.
The digital photos came out quite well, available on request.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynda Holmes & Timothy Hyde
Blue Mountains / Capertee Valley
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