Some six moths ago I placed a nest box in Liquidamber tree, 20m from the house. 3-4m from the ground,measuring 200mm x 200mm x 300mm in height and an opening 100mm dia.towards the top.To my surprise a pair of Kookaburra's have taken up residence and laid 3 eggs (maybe a week into incubation?).The adults are able to access the entrance albeit a tight fit.I have a few concerns, the size of the box (maybe a little cramped once they start to hatch and mature)
I'm of the understanding that the young will normally back up to the entrance of a nest hole to defecate so as to not foul the nest. Herein lies the problem with my nest box, unless they grow extra long legs this can't happen.
My thought that I might make the opening a little larger.
Would like to have thoughts and or advice of forum members.
Trust me, those Kookaburras will have noticed how big or small the entrance is, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen the box. In the case of birds, parents know best. If you do any noisy work on the box now, you will disturbe the birds and they might abandon the nest.Just have faith in the ability and judgement of the Kookaburra. M-L
Good luck and enjoy watching.
M-L
Hi Araminta,
I think your advice in the last sentence is the wise choice.
We try to think of ways to help or assist, however nature knows best.
Pete
For future reference, greenwing, I've read that kookaburra nest boxes need to be longer than they are high so that they replicate as far as possible kookaburra-favoured nest holes in fairly horizontal tree branches. But I've also observed in the Grampians kookaburras nesting in what seemed to be a vertical hole in a tree trunk.