Kookaburra

Kookaburras usually laugh longest in the morning and the late afternoon. They can live for 20 years. A kookaburra's beak can grow up to 10 cm long. The laughing kookaburra is the largest king fisher in its family. The Laughing kookaburra is found in the Eastern and Southern states of Australia. It has been introduced to Tasmania, Western Australia and to New Zealand.

The Laughing Kookaburra's colors are brown, white, black and a very little bit of blue.

A Kookaburra's predators are Wedge-tailed Eagles, cats, brown goshawks, powerful owls, foxes and Grey Butcher birds. When a kookaburra sees its enemies, it fluffs up its feathers to look bigger and scarier to scare them off if it cannot fly away in time. Kookaburras are not good flyers.

Click here to hear the sound of the kookaburra.

When a Kookaburra laughs it starts in a ''Kook-kook-kook,'' then their end in a ''ha-ha-ha''. A family group will laugh together throwing back their heads and flicking their tails up and down. When white man first came to Australia, they thought that somebody was laughing at them, until they found out about the kookaburra. They love sitting on power lines or tree branches. The beak of the kookaburra, is black on top and underneath is whitish brown at the end.

Kookaburras eat insects, small rodents, yabbies, snails, worms, lizards, frogs and snakes. The kookaburra bashes lizards and snakes against rock or a tree to break up all of its bones, so it can digest its prey.

A kookaburra starts breeding when it is one year old. A kookaburra will build its nest in a tree or sometimes a termite mound. A kookaburra will stay with the same mate all their lives. A kookaburra's older offspring will be like a bodyguard for the new born chicks.

The kookaburra's older children may stay with the parents for up to four years. Kookaburra will lay eggs between September and December. A kookaburra will lay an egg a day apart and the eggs will hatch a day apart. The new born chicks weigh about 28 grams each. A new born chick is very ugly. When a chick is ready to leave the nest it weighs about 330 grams.

Each year between January and the end of March, all the adults lose their feathers, and grow new feathers.

Fact File

Full name: Dacelo novaeguineae.

Size: up to 47cm.

Weight: about 350 grams.

Habitat: eucalypt forests. Also found in suburbs, towns and bush land.

Relatives: Blue-winged Kookaburra.

Food: yabbies, snails, worms, lizards, frogs and snakes.

Identification: its colors are brown, white, black and a little bit of blue.