Australia’s iconic kookaburra has a predominantly white head, white underside with a brown mask, blade-like bill, brown wings with distinctive blue spots and a brown tail with paler brown to white stripes on the tail feathers.

Where

You’ll easily spot or hear kookaburras anywhere there are large trees in Booderee. Whilst enjoying a walk in our Botanic Gardens, you may hear them laughing at you before you see them!

Feeding

The kookaburra uses its strong dagger-like bill to catch a wide variety of prey, including fish, small snakes, lizards, rodents, worms, beetles and other insects. It swoops on its prey from a perch, eating small animals whole but bashing larger animals against the ground or a tree branch. From time to time kookaburras at the park will attempt to join your picnic - please don’t feed them as they become dependent on humans for food and then suffer in winter when fewer people are visiting.

Breeding

Kookaburras usually mate for life. The pair nest in tree hollows and the young of previous clutches assist their parents in rearing their younger brothers and sisters. This kind of cooperative nesting behaviour is quite common in Australian birds.

Sounds

The kookaburra can be heard at any time of day but most frequently shortly after dawn and from sunset to dusk.

Its characteristic ‘laugh’ is used to establish territory amongst family groups. One bird starts with a low, hiccuping chuckle, then throws its head back in raucous laughter: often several others join in. The cackle is not really a laugh, but a warning for other birds to stay away.