Laughing Kookaburra

About the laughing kookaburra

The laughing kookaburra belongs to the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It's the largest kingfisher species in the world, heavier even than the giant kingfisher, with a stout, stocky build 41 to 47 cm (16 to 19 in) long. The head and underparts are whitish to cream, cut across by a brown eye-stripe, while the back and wings are dark brown with a mottled patch of light blue on the wing coverts and the tail is barred rufous and black. Males and females look nearly identical, though females run slightly heavier on average and carry less blue on the rump. The heavy bill is black above and pale below.

Its scientific naming has an odd backstory. French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat first illustrated the bird in 1776 after obtaining a specimen likely collected on one of Captain Cook's voyages to eastern Australia, but he mistakenly claimed to have observed it in New Guinea — an error permanently fossilized in the species name novaeguineae. Johann Hermann formally described the species in 1783, and the genus name Dacelo, coined in 1815, is simply an anagram of Alcedo, Latin for kingfisher. Through the 1800s and early 1900s the bird went by names including "laughing jackass" and "laughing kingfisher"; "kookaburra," drawn from the Wiradjuri word "Gugubarra," wasn't adopted as the official name until 1926. Two subspecies are recognized: the nominate D. n. novaeguineae across eastern Australia and introduced into Tasmania and southwest Australia, and the smaller D. n. minor from Cape York Peninsula south to Cooktown. The genus Dacelo holds two other kookaburra species confined to New Guinea and the Torres Strait, plus the blue-winged kookaburra, which shares part of its Australian range; the two can be told apart by this species' darker eye and eye-stripe, shorter bill, and smaller, duller blue wing and rump patches, with male blue-winged kookaburras also showing a barred blue-and-black tail that this species lacks.

Behavior and diet

A laughing kookaburra hunts by sitting still on a perch until it spots movement on the ground, then dropping down to seize its prey. Its diet runs to lizards, insects, worms, snakes, and mice, and it has a habit of pulling goldfish straight out of garden ponds. The species is sedentary, holding the same territory year-round, and monogamous, keeping the same partner for life. Breeding pairs are often accompanied by as many as five grown, non-breeding offspring from prior seasons, who help defend the territory and raise the newest brood rather than striking out on their own.

Nests are built in unlined tree hollows or in holes excavated into arboreal termite mounds, and a typical clutch holds three white eggs, incubated by both parents and any helper birds present. Sibling competition can be brutal: the youngest of the three chicks is often killed by its older nestmates. Once the surviving young fledge, the whole family group continues feeding them for six to ten weeks, until they're able to forage on their own.

The call that gives the species its name is a raucous, cackling laugh, frequently performed as a group chorus that marks and defends territory against rival family groups. It's produced by a tracheo-bronchial syrinx capable of generating two frequencies at once, layered with harmonics, as air is forced from the lungs through the bronchial tubes — and, notably, it's a learned skill rather than an instinct. Fledglings spend roughly two weeks being coached through the call by the adult male before they can join a chorus properly. A full chorus unfolds in five parts: a low hiccuping "kooa," a cackle, a rapid rolling "oo-oo-oo," a loud "ha-ha," and a closing note that differs by sex — "go-go" from males, "gurgle" from females. Calling intensifies two to three months before the September-to-January breeding season as male aggression rises, and the tightly coordinated duets are thought to help reinforce the long-term pair bond. Outside of the laughing call, the birds also squawk while nesting, when behaving submissively, or when chicks are waiting to be fed.

Range and habitat

The laughing kookaburra is native to eastern mainland Australia, ranging from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to around Cape Otway in the south, on both sides of the Great Dividing Range. It has since been introduced well beyond that range: to Tasmania beginning in 1906, where it's now widespread in the island's northeast, including on Flinders Island and Kangaroo Island; to the southwest corner of Western Australia, largely through releases by the Acclimatization Society between 1897 and 1912; and, in the 1860s, to Kawau Island off New Zealand's North Island, where a small breeding population persists on the adjacent mainland today. Most of these introductions were probably driven by the bird's reputation for killing snakes.

The species favors open eucalypt forest and woodland, particularly where the understory is sparse or grassy and tree hollows are available for nesting, but it also occurs near wetlands, in partly cleared farmland dotted with trees, and readily in city parks and gardens. A single bird has even turned up repeatedly in Suffolk, England since 2015, with further sightings reported in Scotland, likely the result of birds released either deliberately or by accident.

Conservation status

The laughing kookaburra is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in a 2016 assessment by BirdLife International, because of its extensive range and large population.

Density in Australia ranges from 0.04 to 0.8 birds per hectare depending on habitat, and one estimate puts the total as high as 65 million birds. That figure may be far too high. Birdata records show a 50 percent drop in sightings between 2000 and 2019, and the reporting rate fell from 25 to 15 percent over the same period, which points to a marked decline. The introduced population in New Zealand is small, probably fewer than 500 birds.