The "Laughing Kookaburra", Dacelo
novaeguineae
is also called the "Laughing
Jackass", or simply the "Kookaburra".
There are actually two species of Kookaburra.
As well as the Laughing
Kookaburra so familiar to
people in the
southern states of Australia,
there is a "Blue-winged Kookaburra", Dacelo
leachii,
which lives in eastern Queensland.
The ranges of the two species overlap. This article is about the
laughing Kookaburra.
At
Raptor Domain near Vivonne Bay on Kangaroo
Island, Dave Irwin included
two Kookaburras in his "Birds
of Prey" show.
The Kookaburra is not
technically a raptor, but shares some characteristics with the
raptors.
The Kookaburra
is a large Kingfisher. In
the Australian Bush they do
not catch many fish because there is little water. In settled areas,
Kookaburras will certainly catch Goldfish out of garden ponds. There
also catch other pond fish, but brightly coloured fish are easier
to
see.
In
the Bush, the Kookaburras eat almost any animal of the right size.
This
includes venomous snakes, lizards, small birds, earthworms,
insects,
mice, etc. Dave Irwin told us that a few days before we saw his
show
both the Kookaburras caught and ate mice during the show. When an
animal is caught by a Kookaburra, the bird will kill the little
animal
by beating it against a branch.
Kookaburras that live near Humans can
become quite tame and will come for pieces of meat. The Kookaburra will
still beat the meat and make sure it is dead.
The
natural range of the Kookaburra
is the whole of eastern Australia, including South Australia and Kangaroo
Island.
They are not native to Tasmania, Western Australia or New Zealand, but
have been introduced to these areas.
Kookaburras
are believed to mate for life.
They breed from August to January.
Not
only do the two parents share the upbringing of the new babies, but
also their offspring from the previous two years help with their
younger siblings. The nest
is typically a natural hollow in a tree, or
sometimes a hole in a termite mound of the type that is in a tree.
The
name "Laughing Kookaburra"
comes from the cry of this bird which sounds like raucous laughter.
The Kookaburra will typically perch while looking
for prey. Dave Irwin was
able to demonstrate an interesting adaption of the Kookaburra.
Tree
branches often sway in the wind.
The kookaburra can compensate for
minor swaying and keeps its head still so it can concentrate on
looking.
For
more pictures of the Kookaburra, see my "slide
show" Kookaburras.
Apart from the interesting
talk Dave Irwin gave at Raptors Domain, Sources of the information in
this article include the Laughing
Kookaburra
fact sheet of the Australian Museum and observations of the Kookaburra
over the last 45 years, plus the things our customers tell us about
Kookaburras.
Steve Challis
Invitation
to Link:
If any page of
this website is relevant to your site, please feel free to link to our
site.
Baby Kookaburra Swallowing a Lizard Whole
By Chris Rex Parsons [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
