Laughing Kookaburra

Overview

Laughing Kookaburra: Large, noisy kingfisher, dark brown upperparts, brown-washed white underparts. Head and neck are white, and dark brown eye-stripe is conspicuous. Bill is large and two toned with black upper and pale brown lower mandibles. Tail is rufous with broad, black bars. Gray legs, feet.

Range and Habitat

Laughing Kookaburra: Native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Inhabits woodlands, open forests, and suburban areas.

INTERESTING FACTS

Laughing Kookaburra are a common sight in suburban gardens and urban settings, even in quite built up areas. They are so accustomed to humans that they will quite often eat out of their hands.
It is named for its laughing call, which it uses to greet its mate after periods of absences. It can be heard at any time of day.
Some of these birds were introduced into New Zealand between 1866 and 1880, but only those liberated on Kawau Island by Sir George Grey survived.
Descendants are still found there today.
A group of kingfishers are collectively known as a "concentration" and a "relm" of kingfishers.

The Laughing Kookaburra is native to the Caribbean, Central America and South America. The Laughing Kookaburra is also known to visit other areas as well, including Australia. This bird species has a range of about 400,000 square kilometers. The population of the Laughing Kookaburra is about 800,000 individual birds. At this time there are not thought to be any serious dangers threatening the range or the population of this bird species. The prior rating of the Laughing Kookaburra was Lower Risk. That rating was downgraded to Least Concern in 2004 due to this bird's stable population and range.