Kookaburra

Dacelo novaeguineae

Keep an ear out for the famous kookaburra's laugh when you come to Lone Pine. This bird can be heard laughing from quite far away.

It's almost as though they're laughing at you, but don't get a complex, they actually really love visitors!

The laughing Kookaburra's call is used during courtship to define territories and often being sung in chorus with family members.

They are the world's largest kingfishers and can live up to 20 years.

Kookaburras are monogamous, pairing up for life.  They build their nest in a tree hollow or a termite mound.

During the breeding season, September to January, one to five eggs are laid at 24 hour intervals. They hatch after 25 days.  

When the young have fledged they  stay around the nest for several years to help raise the next clutch of chicks. These helpers are non-breeders, it is only the senior pairs that breed.

Like most kingfishers, the laughing kookaburra has a large beak, but unlike others it doesn’t use it to catch fish.  Instead it eats lizards, frogs, insects, rodents, worms and small snakes.

To kill its prey the bird either bashes it against a tree branch or drops it from a height. Once dead, the prey is swallowed whole.