Laughing Kookaburra

Dacelo novaeguineae

Kookaburras live in lowland areas of eastern Australia and the extreme southwest tip of Australia. Unlike other kingfishers, kookaburras rarely, if ever, eat fish. They feed primarily on snakes, lizards, worms, snails, insects, frogs, small birds and rodents. Kookaburras are generally peaceful. They usually nest 30 feet in the air, often in holes in Mountain Gum trees, or into arboreal termite mounds. They are territorial and live in groups of 3 or 4, consisting of a breeding pair and helpers. When the young hatch they are naked and blind but about the same size as the adults, but darker and with a shorter beak and tail. Next year, when these babies are grown, they will stay with their parents and help to raise the new babies, providing up to about 60% of the food of their newborn siblings.

Picture taken in the Attica Zoological Park of Athens, Greece, in June 2007.

Genus Dacelo
Family Alcedinidae
Order Coraciiformes
Class Aves
Subphylum Vertebrata
Phylum Chordata
Kingdom Animalia
Life on Earth
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