Source for most text: NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service |
Egg photo source: Australian Museum Online |
Its raucous call, which inspired its common nickname of "laughing jackass", is often heard on television and motion picture soundtracks to typify "jungle sounds". |
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The laughing kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher. It measures up to 46 cm [18"] from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. When compared with the little kingfisher, which is only 12 cm [4 3/4"] long, it is truly a giant. |
Its plumage is shades of whites and browns, which help it to blend easily into its environment. This makes it more difficult for prey or predators to see the bird. |
Its raucous call, which inspired its common nickname of "laughing jackass", is often heard on television and motion picture soundtracks to typify "jungle sounds". |
Originally native to eastern Australia, this species was successfully introduced into the western part of the continent. The blue-winged kookaburra occurs in northern Australia; the two species overlap in Queensland. Two other species live in New Guinea. |
There are 10 kingfisher species in Australia. They are the azure, forest, collared, red-backed, sacred, little, yellow-billed, and buff-breasted paradise kingfishers, and the blue-winged and laughing kookaburras. |
The first five kingfishers mentioned and the laughing kookaburra live in NSW. Although their size differs, all kingfishers look similar. They have stout, squat bodies with large heads and long beaks. |
Where do they live? The laughing kookaburra lives in forests, open woodlands, or on the edges of plains. It requires a large variety of foods all year round, and a suitable nesting site. |
What do they eat? Kookaburras use their strong beaks to catch a wide variety of prey, including fish, small snakes, lizards, rodents, worms, beetles and other insects. In times of grasshopper or mouse plagues, their diet will consist almost entirely of these animals. |
To catch its food, the kookaburra uses a wait-and-pounce technique, taking up a post with a good view. When prey appears, the kookaburra drops straight down from its perch, its wings back, with beak ready to grab its dinner. Large prey items like lizards and snakes are bashed against a tree or a rock, to kill them and soften them up before they are eaten. |
They often bash the minced steak (that we feed them) on our deck railing, even though they catch it in their beaks. They line up on the railing daily waiting for their small snack. |
Left: Two of the group of six that visits us sitting on the railing in the late afternoon patiently waiting... |
Family life The main purpose of the kookaburra's call is to let other birds know of its territory and boundaries. A kookaburra lives in the one place for most of its life. It also mates for life. Laughing kookaburras establish a social system in which only the dominant male and female in a family group will breed, usually between spring and mid summer. |
Nests are made in tree hollows or termite mounds in trees or on the ground, where the female will lay up to three eggs. During this time, the rest of the family helps out with the incubation, feeding and protection of the young. |
Incubations last 24 days. The young hatch at different times and take 36 days to fledge. After that they are fed by their family for a further 8 - 13 weeks. The breeding rate is slow because many birds do not breed at all, but each bird can live up to 25 years. |
Threats to kookaburras There are two ways in which humans can have an adverse effect on kookaburras: 1. Kookaburras need trees for nesting, roosting and perching on while waiting for prey. Removing trees means that there are fewer breeding and feeding sites available for kookaburras, and this can lead to a decline in numbers. 2. When humans use pesticides to kill insects, they end up poisoning the animals that usually feed on those pests. When kookaburras eat contaminated insects, they absorb the pesticide chemicals and store them in their fat. When food is in short supply and the kookaburras use some of their fat store, high concentrations of chemicals may flow into the blood. The result can be reproductive losses or even death. If you must use pesticides, choose the least toxic ones and take special care to avoid those that build up residues in the bodies of animals that prey on insects. |
Kookaburras are protected in NSW by the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. |
Scientific classification: Kookaburras belong to the family Alcedinidae of the order Coraciiformes. The laughing kookaburra is classified as Dacelo novaeguineae, the blue-winged kookaburra as Dacelo leachii. |
Egg photo source: Australian Museum Online |
Source for most text: NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service |
