Kookaburra

"koo-koo-ka-kookaburra!"

The famous laughing kingfisher

Australian Kookaburra

The famous laughing kingfisher - Our most favourite bird. It is very typical of Australia to have a bird whose laughter can be heard all over the country.

The Kookaburras laugh is instantly recognisable, for those of you that have not seen of heard our kookaburra laugh you are in for a wonderful surprise. Kookaburras are members of the kingfisher family and are approximately 40 - 45 cm in size or length.

It's colouring blends in well with its environment in most cases is off-white with dark brown, and brown, white and back wings. The kookaburra has a stand out dark brown eye stripe through the face.

The laughing or chuckling voice that gives this special kingfisher its name is a very common and most familiar sound that Australians can often hear daily. The loud 'koo-kooing similar to koo-koo-koo-koo kaa-kaa-kaa' is squawked out and other kookaburras join in creating a laughing in choirs.

Kookaburras feed mostly on insects, crustaceans and worms, but they are not shy and will eat other things like snakes, mammals, they have ben know to steel a snag from the BBQ. They keen eye sight and there prey is captured by pouncing from a tree branch or perch.

The can be seen, when capturing larger prey, killing it by bashing it against the ground or tree while holing it in there large long slender beaks. Smaller prey is eaten whole, Kookaburras can be quite tame and will often accept scraps of meat.

The kookaburras breed usually from late July to January. True love among animals or birds is often true, kookaburras are believed to pair for life. The nest is usually in a tree hollow or in a burrow excavated in a termite mound. Both male and female share the incubation and the future caring for the young.

Photo Giulio Scalleta

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