Kookaburra
Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea,
Kookaburras, known as the Laughing Kookaburras, are from the family Kingfishers.
Similar to other kingfishers, Kookaburras have a stout and compact body, short neck, rather long and pointed bill and short legs.
Kookaburras are 17 inches in height, the upper parts dark brown, the wings spotted gray-blue. A white band separates the head from the body. There is a dark stripe through the eye, and the under parts are white. The strong bill is black.
Habitat:
Kookaburras tend to inhabit woodland areas of eastern Australia.
Reproduction:
Kookaburras generally live in pairs or in small groups in open woodland. They incubate their two to four pure white eggs in hollow tree trunks, tree holes, or in excavated termite nests. Both adults incubate for a period of 25 days. The young leave the nest 30 days after hatching, but the parents continue to feed them for another 40 days.
General Info:
The Australian aborigines have a legend about the Kookaburra. When the sun rose for the first time, the god Bayame ordered the kookaburra to utter its loud, almost human laughter in order to wake up mankind so that they should not miss the wonderful sunrise. The aborigines also believed that any child who insulted a kookaburra would grow an extra slanting tooth.
Facts
Kookaburras live in forests.
Their feathers are brown, black, white and blue.
They eat snakes, lizards, frogs and fish.
Their call sounds like they are laughing.
Kookaburra are part of the group of birds called kingfishers. Kookaburras live in woodlands and open forests.
Diet:
In the wild, Kookaburras are known to be partial to the young of other birds and snakes, as well as insects and small reptiles. They can regularly be seen on suburban fencelines, feesting on plentiful skinks and any small reptile within their line of sight.
Behaviour:
The Kookaburra’s noisy laughing call is one of the most recognisable of all of Australian Birds. Kookaburras raise a wild chorus of raucous laughter as they roost in the treetops at dusk. Kookaburras also spontaneously wake everyone within hearing as dawn breaks. They are sometimes known as the “bushman’s clock.”
The Kookaburra is a true icon of Australia. It is has a habit of feeding on snakes and lizards. The Kookaburra seizes snakes behind the head and kills them by dropping them from a height, or else carries them to a perch and batters them senseless against any nearby hard surface before swallowing them head first.
Like the Butcher Bird, the Kookaburra will also prey on the young of other birds, and will occasionaly raid farmyards for ducklings and baby chicks.
