AKA ‘The laughing bird” due to its distinctive and completely unique song. You know you’re in Australia when you hear it. The sound brightens my day.
The kookaburra is a member of the Kingfisher family and is the largest of them – 45cm (18 inches) from beak to tail and weighing up to 465 grams. Kingfishers are one of a few bird species able to hover (like a hummingbird).
Diet is carnivorous and includes insects, small crabs, and small reptiles although I saw a photo on Facebook the other day where a kookaburra was sitting on a low branch around 10 feet off the ground, swallowing a snake at least 6 feet in length! They play a critical role in their ecology, in controlling the population of small animals.
As a group, they are known as a RIOT of kookaburras lol. You’ll find 2-3 eggs in a clutch and they take around 22 days to incubate, entering maturity at around 12 months. Can live up to 15 years.
