12 By the Dozen

Kookaburra: Friend or foe?

So much has happened since I had the idea for my wall hanging that I was feeling a little removed from its initial inspiration. That was, until doing a wildlife rescue and recovery course last Sunday. We focused a lot on birds as they make up by far the largest percentage of calls for help. As I handled birds with broken necks, saw photos of broken beaks and heard of concussed birds some with broken ‘shoulders’, the motivation behind my piece was brought into clear focus – the problem that windows represent for birds.


Windows have romantic notions attached to them in our culture and in a practical sense, are generally seen positively letting in warming sunshine on a cold day and cooling breezes in the summer. However, for birds, they can be quite sinister particularly when they reflect the sky and trees which tricks birds to fly into them. And, also they reflect the birds themselves which they often mistake for an intruder in their territory which needs to be seen off. According to an article in the Washington Post online 3 February 2014, it is estimated that a staggering 365 – 988 million birds die from colliding with windows in the USA annually.

I wasn’t sure if I should make this the subject of my window piece but I was out pondering the possibility when, right before my eyes, on the tail end of a spectacular storm, I watched in disbelief as what I think was a heron, flew directly into the large window of the indoor market I had just visited. My friend and I looked for the bird in the bushes where it had fallen but we couldn’t find it. All that remained was a ghostly impression of its body and wings on the window.

You’ll be relieved to know that I rejected the initial idea to depict a dead bird in front of a window and opted instead for this live Kookaburra sitting on my neighbour’s windowsill tapping persistently at his own image, thankfully not flying at it! Working on this project has resulted in some positives. I learnt there are ways of bird proofing windows which I will be able to tell friends and family about and also put into effect myself as I am about to move into a new house. In addition, I was able to try out fabric paints and an iron-off marking pen I had ordered from Helen Godden and, also, to give free motion quilting a go. My FMQ technique has a long way to go but it was a satisfying start. 

Here are photos of some of the stages.

Thank you again for welcoming me to the group. I would never have created ‘Kookaburra: Friend or foe?’ without the membership to motivate me.