Description:

The burrowing kookaburra (Lagoumipolius nicterinos) is a flightless nocturnal kookaburra native to Australia. These animals evolved from the laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaguineae). The reason for their flightlessness is unknown, but there are theories that their ancestor was similar in build to a tinamou, a rail, or the ancestral kiwi Proapteryx. Over time, these ancestral forms eventually became flightless due to the isolation of Australia and the filling of available niches. In the Novicene, these animals live similarly to a nocturnal flightless roadrunner, running through their habitat in search of insects. They are usually dark brown with a gray beak and legs. They are about 40 to 60 centimeters in length and weigh 2.6 to 3.0 kilograms. They also have relatively large eyes, which allow them to see at night. They also have a durable, robust beak with a curved, hardened tip at the end. This beak helps them to dig burrows in the dry rock-like soil that covers most of the Great Australian Plain. These birds usually live 10 years in the wild and 25 years in captivity.

Distribution:

These birds inhabit areas with densely packed vegetation. These habitats include wooded savanna and shrubland. They also live in some parts of the Australian Terror Rainforest and the Eastern Eucalyptus Forests. These areas provide cover when searching for insects to eat.

Diet:

These animals are omnivorous. The majority of their diet consists of invertebrates, such as insects, spiders, scorpions, earthworms, and snails. They also prey on small mammals, lizards, frogs, and snakes. This diverse diet makes them highly adaptable.

Reproduction:

Burrowing kookaburras only breed if they are not currently raising babies, in poor health, or in dangerous conditions (such as high predators in their territory). Females will call out with a loud call that sounds like loud shouts. Males move towards these calls. Once a male and a female meet, they will begin to dance to determine whether the male is fit for the female. The female allows the male to mate with her if she sees him as fit. After breeding, the male will leave the female to raise the eggs. The female will brood the eggs until they hatch inside her burrow. They have a large clutch size of up to 6 to 7. These babies are fully fledged when they hatch. The female will abandon them, and these babies will go on to eat insects. This strategy enables them to reproduce frequently and produce a large number of offspring during their lifespan.

Defensive Behavior:

These animals have multiple behaviors to combat predators. Kookaburras will typically try to run away from predators. Given that they are small and fast, running away often allows them to flee from their predators. They will try to hide in a burrow or a patch of dense foilage after fleeing. Another defense mechanism is a threat display that combines their wings, vocalizations, and rushing at the predator. This display often confuses and startles the predator. After doing this display, they will escape to a burrow or other protected location.

Burrowing:

These kookaburras are some of the only birds in the Novicene that actively burrow. Other birds, such as burrowing owls, don't burrow themselves but use the abandoned burrows of various mammals. As previously mentioned, their rigid shovel-like beak allows them to break dried dirt and soil. The keratin that covers their beak is also constantly growing at a fast rate. It is somewhat comparable to a rodent's teeth in how fast the beaks grow. This adaptation is crucial in the Great Australian Plain, where the soil is almost as hard as cement. These burrows they create can be over six feet in diameter. They provide shelter during times of harsh weather, heat, and various other dangerous climate conditions.