The bushman's clock
Families laugh together at dawn and dusk, to tell other kookaburras where their territory is.
The bush
Laughing kookaburra
Dacelo novaeguineae
A big, stocky kingfisher with a cream head, a dark eye-stripe, brown wings and a heavy beak.
- Size
- About 43cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Woods, farms and gardens of eastern Australia
Flies after you, and sits to watch from a perch. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Kookaburra
Good to know
Six things about the kookaburra
A kingfisher that does not fish
It is the biggest kingfisher in the world, but it hunts on land.
Snake catcher
It eats lizards, insects, mice and snakes, and beats bigger prey against a branch.
Helpers at the nest
Older brothers and sisters stay on to help their parents feed the next chicks.
Sit and wait
It sits very still on a branch, watching the ground, then drops straight onto its prey.
A jungle sound
Its call has been used in many films as a jungle noise, even ones set in Africa.
The real thing
Photos of the kookaburra
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Listen at dawn. By day, look for a big-headed bird sitting still on a low branch, fence or wire.
How to help
Kookaburras nest in holes in old trees. Keeping big old trees standing, even dead ones, gives them a home.
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