Greg Clark rescues a young kookaburra from a swimming pool skimmer box at a Port Macquarie home. Source: Greg Clark

When Greg Clark took a dip in the pool to escape the summer heat earlier this month, something caught his eye in the pool skimmer box. On closer investigation, he found a young kookaburra in distress sitting on the high point of the box, trying to keep its head above water.

“I couldn’t bloody believe it,” Greg told Yahoo News.

With a curious kelpie watching on, Greg carefully lifted the juvenile bird out and wrapped it in a towel as he and his wife Kerrilyn chuckled over how the kookaburra got itself into such a predicament.

Open-mouthed and startled, the kookaburra seemed relieved to have been extracted from the pool but unsure what was going to happen next.

“How the hell did you get into the skimmer box of the pool?” Greg asked.

“You dopey bugger,” Kerrilyn said.

How did the kookaburra end up in a pool skimmer box?

They laughed at how “Australian” the scenario was, but Greg had his theory about how the bird ended up in the pool of the Port Macquarie home on the NSW Mid North Coast.

There is plenty of wildlife around the backyard, and Greg told Yahoo he thinks the young kookaburra was eyeing off a resident water dragon or skink for its next meal.

“I reckon a water dragon’s gone in [the pool], the kookaburra’s seen it and gone to have a crack, the lizard’s got away, and the kookaburra has got itself into a bit of trouble,” Greg said.

“The skimmer box is the only place where it could keep its head above water.

“He was half submerged but out of the water enough to breathe, probably sitting there pondering, ‘How the hell am I going to get out of this one?’ “

Greg and Kerrilyn dried the bird off, wrapped it in a towel and placed it in a large, perspex box to recover. Greg was unsure how long the bird had been in the pool, but said it was low on energy and was a bit “freaked out”. He left the box half open so the kookaburra could get away if it wanted to.

“Kez saw him the next morning, and he’d hopped up on the edge of the box,” Greg said.

“She came in to get me, and by the time we got to the back door, he’d flown away. It was a good ending.”

Greg had been in touch with wildlife rescue group WIRES for advice, who told him finding a kookaburra in a pool is not such an uncommon scenario.

Greg Clark said the young kookaburra was initially a little “freaked out” after being rescued from the pool. Source: Greg Clark

WIRES advises how to prevent wildlife drowning in your pool

WIRES spokesman John Grant told Yahoo News animals can occasionally find themselves in trouble in a backyard pool, although he’d never heard of a kookaburra being found in a pool skimmer box before.

Grant said WIRES often warn people to watch out for snakes in particular when lifting the lid off the skimmer box.

He also said even larger animals, like a kangaroo, can fall into a backyard pool.

“It does happen,” Grant said.

“But never try and rescue it yourself as they are very difficult to manage, they can run over you, and you need a trained person to assist with that.”

Grant said you can try to encourage the animal onto the steps area of the pool, where they may be able to climb out.

“We also advise people to hang a big rope over the edge, tied to a fence, so if a possum or any of the smaller creatures fall in, they can climb out,” he said.

“They can swim, so they’ll find their way to what looks like a big branch, and climb out themselves.”

Grant said anyone who finds an animal in distress around their home can phone WIRES for help.