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Mud Brick Walls & Kookaburra - Follow Up

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Subject: Mud Brick Walls & Kookaburra - Follow Up
From: Timothy Hyde <>
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 12:33:39 -0800
Mud Brick Walls & Kookaburra - Follow Up


The call to WIRES wasn't unusual.
"I've found a young Kookaburra on the ground."

But this was no ordinary Kooka. It was "Squarkle" as Lyn had named the begging baby.
This was the offspring of the Mud BrickWall Kooka (see Archives).
The adults had stopped their nest hole digging before they broke through
into Lyns living room. The little bird had fledged and come to ground.
The adults were around and concerned.

Lyn had been watching for most of the day, but became concerned when Squarkle got close to the roadway. She rang me and I suggested she placed a cardboard box over the bird, as she wasn't confident in picking it up. I made my way there asap.
The bird was healthy and feisty with no apparent injuries. It was late 
afternoon and I made the decision to leave the bird there rather than 
take it into care.
After my last story John Gamblin of Victoria had sent me a lovely nest 
box in case the Kookas had broken through the wall with their ferocious 
digging. It wasn't needed for that, but now it became invaluable.
We placed the nest box on the roof as close as possible below the nest 
hole. Filled it with a layer of leaf litter and then placed in the bird 
itself. It retreated to the far back dark corner and seemed to be content.
I watched from my car for about 15 minutes when I saw an adult Kooka 
land in a nearby tree. Time to go. I returned the next morning, to an 
empty nest box. A good search of the area revealed nothing. I was 
confident Squarkle had gone off with the parents.
I don't know why Squarkle was on the ground. Possibly the position of 
the nest hole to the closest trees was too far for him to manage. Also a 
couple of days of extreme heat prior to fledging may have forced him out 
a day early.
I have often wondered whether in remote areas if it is quite natural for 
fledging Kookas to came to ground for the first day to be attended by 
the family group until they are strong enough to fly to higher branches.
So many young come into Wires care over the Xmas period usually just to 
be kept safe overnight to be returned to the group asap. If anyone has 
any info or ideas on this I would love to hear from you
I have enjoyed being involved with this "rescue" and thank Lyn for her 
patience and tolerance of our wonderful wildlife. I would also like to 
thank John for his very generous donation of the nest box.
"Ya gotta laugh"

Lynda Holmes
Blue Mountains / Capertee Valley



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