Laughing kookaburra

Conservation Messaging Opportunities

Keep the common species common

Size & Weight 12”; 3/4 lb.; bill 2.5 in.
The giant kingfisher, or as it is better known, the laughing kookaburra, sometimes called the laughing jackass, is actually the world's largest kingfisher.
This kookaburra's back and wings are brown. Pale blue spots appear on the shoulder. The tail is brown with black bars and a white tip.
The crown is streaked with brown and there is a dark stripe through the eye. The rest of the head, neck, and underparts are buff to white. Their wings are small for the bird's body size and these birds are typically limited to flying short distances of several hundred feet. Its legs are short as are those of all kingfishers.
Vision and hearing are very keen.
The very heavy, wedge-shaped bill facilitates snake and lizard hunting. Prey is swallowed whole after being beaten against a branch.

Wild – Snakes, lizards, insects, crabs, eggs, nestlings (Although the Kookaburra is a type of Kingfisher, they are limited to dry land where they do not have access to fish.)
Zoo – Mice, crickets, mealworms and bird of prey diet, which consists of ground meat

Incubation: 19 to 20 days
Clutch: 3-4 eggs.
All the members (parents and young) of the family participate in the caring of the new offspring.
The appetite of the chicks is remarkable. One captive baby kookaburra was observed to consume, within 6 weeks, 992 grasshoppers, 65 small lizards, 29 moths, and an assortment of dragonflies, crickets, and food scraps.

Major threats: None at this time
The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as 'common' in at least parts of its range.
Overall, wild populations appear to be stable.

Of course it is their call (“laugh”) that makes these birds so remarkable. It can be rendered as the following: hoo hoo hoo Hoo- Haa Haa Haa Haa Haa Haa- Huh huh huh. Even though kookaburras are endemic to Australia, their vocalizations are so closely associated with jungle scenes in movies, directors have insisted to use these vocalizations in places where the Kookaburra does not even live.
In the wild, they live in communal flocks where they claim territory by singing at dusk and dawn.
The name "kookaburra", as may be surmised, is an onomatopoeic Aboriginal name. Australian Aborigines say that when a sun rose for the first time on earth, the god Bayame ordered kookaburra to utter its loud laughter to wake up mankind so man could not miss the wonderful sunrise.

BirdLife International. (2004). Dacelo novaeguineae. Retrieved March 21, 2008, from the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Web site: http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/ 47708/sum.
Grzimek, B. (Ed.) (1968). Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia (English ed., Vol. 9, pp. 33-34). Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
Kookaburra (2004). Retrieved December 13, 2004, from the Honolulu Zoo Web site: http://www.honoluluzoo.org/kookaburra.htm.
Laughing Kookaburra (2003). Retrieved December 13, 2004, from the Oakland Zoo Web site: http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azkook.html
Sholtis, L. (2001). Dacelo novaeguineae. Retrieved December 13, 2004, from the Animal Diversity Web site: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dacelo_novaeguineae.html.

Updated March 2008