One of our little kookaburra family has got all territorial prior to breeding season, and has been attacking our windows. There’s nothing more relaxing than being woken up at 6am on a Sunday morning by a crazed kookaburra hammering its scarily large beak against the glass, like it’s trying to break the window, get into the house and kill us all. Well, there probably are more relaxing things, but I can’t think of them right now. I’m sleep deprived.
In an effort to stop the kookaburra attacking its reflection, I have taped alfoil on the outside of the kitchen windows (which is a great look, and has transformed the kitchen into a dark alfoil cave), which was somewhat successful, but has just forced the kookaburra to move onto other windows. Including the one in our bedroom. I suppose I could cover the entire house in alfoil. Or wait for the breeding season to end. One or the other.
Is it a territorial dispute or has the bird just become obsessed with its reflection? Its always difficult to know what causes that behaviour.
My only suggestion re the windows is to hang a bamboo blind (perhaps the one you have on your back verandah) over your bedroom window before the bird damages itself or the window.
Good luck!
I looked online for more information about kookaburras attacking their reflection in windows (which is where I got the alfoil idea from, it hasn’t been terribly effective), and apparently it’s not unknown in the pre-breeding season. They’re trying to make sure their area is free of other kookaburras prior to building their nest, and keep seeing their own reflection. The one that’s doing it is certainly much more aggro than usual – I was trying to shoo it off the verandah and it just wasn’t moving. Eventually I had to flick my jacket at it until I actually touched it before it flew off.