Kookaburra seen and heard in Yorkshire (1 Viewer)

[Stu-Silver]

Rasmus

Further up the thread, Tannin suggests that they did take over parts of New Zealand readily, and are thriving there. I doubt that they would breed over in the UK, but they do seem to be able to cope with the weather.

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Rasmus

Further up the thread, Tannin suggests that they did take over parts of New Zealand readily, and are thriving there. I doubt that they would breed over in the UK, but they do seem to be able to cope with the weather.

Yes, that was actually what I commented to - it's not long ago I was in NZ and the introduction was not especially successful dispite at least three attempts I know of (1860s & 1870s). As mentioned, they're very local and last estimate I heard was less than 500 individuals from the localities of Whangarei & Waitakere Range, while attempts on introducing them to Wellington, Nelson & Otago failed completely. On the other hand it is completely true that they were helped into Western Australia (and Tasmania) and in general are quite common there today. Hence, it can be presumed the Kookaburra can cope with the weather in the UK (though a cold winter probably would kill most), but it is probably too cold for them to actually prosper. From above responce I assume you haven't had the luck of seeing the Kookaburra again - if the weather "over there" has been anything like the weather in Denmark for the last few weeks it has quite possible succumbed.

 

[Stu-Silver]

I haven't seen it again, but I haven't had time to look apart from the day after I originally saw it. The day I saw it was at the end of a very cold week here, and things haven't really improved since then. I am going to try again though, and if I find it I will try to get a photograph.

 

[Tannin]

It's good to hear that they have not taken over New Zealand. I more-or-less assumed that they were everywhere, sort of like Common Brush-tailed Possums and so on.

They are certainly very common in Western Australia (where they were introduced), but WA is a fair way north of Victoria (the southern-most part of WA is on about the same line of lattitude as Mildura). The climate in Tasmania is surprisingly mild: although it's a long way south of the mainland, it's a small island and the proximity to the sea tends to make it cooler than you'd think in summer; warmer than expected in winter.

I still have difficulty imagining a kookaburra in the snow!

 

[Nutcracker]

The climate in Tasmania is surprisingly mild: although it's a long way south of the mainland, it's a small island and the proximity to the sea tends to make it cooler than you'd think in summer; warmer than expected in winter.

Applies even more so to NZ: most of NZ is a lot warmer than Britain, so Kookaburras surviving there doesn't mean they could in Britain

 

[Stu-Silver]

Kookaburra Caught!

Just a quick update on the Kookaburra story. The following is an extract from the local newspaper the Huddersfield Daily Examiner.

Apr 14 2005




By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


AN Australian bird believed to have been flying free in Huddersfield for about a year is back behind bars.

Amazed Examiner readers had spotted the kookaburra across Huddersfield since May last year in places as diverse as Almondbury, Fenay Bridge, Lockwood, Slaithwaite, Lepton, Skelmanthorpe and Hade Edge.

And recently there was a sighting in Silkstone, near Barnsley.

But the exotic bird was spotted in a derelict mill off Woodhead Road, Lockwood, on Tuesday morning.

RSPCA animal collection officer Kevin Haldenby went to investigate and found the bird inside.

He said: "I reckon he had flown in chasing a pigeon, then couldn't find his way back out.

"I chased him around for quite a while and eventually managed to catch him in a net."

Kevin, 32, said the kookaburra looked well.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him," he said.

"It looks like he has been feeding well and seems in very good condition. His weight is good and he has plenty of energy."

There is a rubber ring on the bird's leg with a number on it registered with The Parrot Society.

Inquiries have begun to trace the owner.

The kookaburra has a white chest, brown wings with bluey flecks on them, a brown line around its eyes, a brown head and black beak.

It is the most unusual bird Kevin has had to catch - but not the strangest animal.

He had to catch an albino wallaby and then trace its owner.

"I don't know what it is with me and Australian animals," he said.




Since I saw him, he was then seen a few more times, one chap managed to photograph him sat on top of his pergola in his back garden. It was apparently catching frogs in his garden pond, and then bashing them on the pergola! However, despite his capture, there have been further reported sightings in 2 other places in Huddersfield suggesting there may have been more than one, although it might be over keen newspaper readers who have seen a Jay for the first time, they do look similar from a distance.

 

[Kiko]

This makes me sad, that bird should be sitting in my gumtree.