Laughing Kookaburra - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Neil Fifer
Newcastle, Australia, August 2003

Dacelo novaeguineae

Dacelo gigas

Identification

39–42 cm (15¼-16½ in)

Off-white below with faint dark brown barring
Brown on back and wings
Rufous tail, broadly barred with black
Dark brown eye-stripe
Mottled blue on wings

Massive bill is 5-6 cm long.

Photo © by Stephen Powell
Halls Gap, Australia, 31 March 2013

Sexes similar

Distribution

Eastern Australia. Woodlands and open forest, Cape York Peninsula to Eyre Peninsula. Introduced and established in Tasmania and south-western Western Australia.

Taxonomy

Largest member of the kingfisher family Alcedinidae.

Subspecies

Juvenile
Photo © by jweeyh
Mt. Coot-tha, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, September 2017

There are two subspecies^[1]:

D. n. minor:

North-eastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula south to Cooktown)

D. n. novaeguineae:

Eastern and south-eastern Australia; introduced Tasmania and south-western Australia

Habitat

Open forests and woodlands.

Behaviour

Diet

Includes insects, worms and crustaceans, small snakes, mammals, frogs and birds. Small food items are eaten whole, but larger prey is first killed by striking it against a hard surface.

Breeding

The nest is a bare chamber in a tree hollow or in a burrow excavated in a termite mound. Both sexes incubate the eggs and care for the young.

Vocalisation

Song: koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-kaa-kaa-kaa

Movements

Mostly sedentary, with occasional temporary movements to exploit abundant prey.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Trek Nature
Fry, C.F., Fry, K. and Harris, A. (1991). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers. Princeton University Press.
Higgins , P.J. (editor) 1999. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Volume 4, Parrots to dollarbird. Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
Michaux, B. 2013. Laughing kookaburra. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
Woodall, P.F. (2019). Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55742 on 23 December 2019).

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Laughing Kookaburra. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Laughing_Kookaburra

External Links

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