Laughing Kookaburra

Toowoomba, Queensland

The laughing Kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher and is a sedentary bird originating in eastern Australia and later introduced in Western Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.

Habitat

The laughing Kookaburra is a terrestrial species found in eucalyptus forests, woodland and parks and gardens. It prefers a habitat with a ground covering of grasses rather than dense vegetation.

Feeding

The laughing kookaburra is a carnivore and hunts a wide range of insects, worms, reptiles and small mammals. It waits on a strategically placed perch from where it will pounce on unsuspecting prey.  I have watched a kookaburra wait for half an hour on my bedroom balcony railing before diving onto a small lizard on the lawn below.

Breeding

The laughing kookaburra mates for life.The nest is either in an unlined tree hole or in a tunnel excavated in the side ot an arboreal termites' nest.  An adult pair may share incubation (usuallly three white eggs), chick rearing and the protection of territory with several mature offspring from previous years . 

Wildfile Specials

• The word kookuburra is derived from the aborigine Wiradjuri tribe word "guuguubarra." which is onomatopeic and represents the call of the laughing kookaburra.
• The call of the laughing kookaburra is used as part of an aggressive territorial defence  as well as to attract a mate and to establish social hierarchy.
• The coordinated calls of a laughing kookaburra family group inform potential intruders of their cohesion and strength.
• The call of the laughing kookaburra is taught to fledglings in small portions by adult males and mastery of the whole may take up to two weeks. They can then join in the dawn and dusk (crepuscular) chorus.
• A "riot" of kookaburras is an alternative to "flock". And "laughing jackass" is an alternative to "kookaburra".
• Laughing kookaburra chicks have a special hook on their beaks that has evolved to enable them to attack fellow nestlings. When the food  is in short supply, the youngest nestling is often killed by its older siblings. Mature birds lose this hook.
• Settlers introduced  laughing kookaburras to other regions because they kill snakes. 
• The blue kookaburra is similar to the laughing kookaburra and their range overlaps. They are easily mistaken although the blue kookaburra is smaller, has more blue in its wing plumage and has a much simpler call.
• Laughing kookaburras are common in urban settings and become so used to people that they can be hand-fed and stroked.
• Kookaburras are referred to as "the bushman's clock",
• According to aboriginal myth, the god of creation, Biaame, instructed the kookaburra to herald the dawn with its call.  When he saw the sun, the kookaburra laughed out loud with excitement  and startled all around him..