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Kookaburra with barbecue meat scraps
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Kookaburra perched on a sign
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Kookaburras are very large, (about 17 in/43cm in height) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea, the name a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, which is onomatopoeic of its call. Kingfishers are small bright colored Birds of the three families Alcedinidae ( River kingfishers, Halcyonidae ( Tree kingfishers, and Cerylidae ( Water For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation Wiradjuri (many other spellings see Wiradjuri) is a Pama-Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup Onomatopoeia (also spelled onomatopœia, from Greek: ονοματοποιΐα is a Word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing
Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which is uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter — good-natured, if rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the well-known Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae); and maniacal cackling in the case of the slightly smaller Blue-winged Kookaburra (Dacelo leachii). The Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, is an Australian carnivorous bird in the Kingfisher family The Blue-winged Kookaburra, Dacelo leachii, is a very large species of Kingfisher with a total length of around 40 cm They are not only found in arid areas, but also in suburban and residential areas near running water and where food can be searched for easily.
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Classification and species
There are four known species of Kookaburra found in Australia, New Guinea and the Aru Islands. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known The Aru Islands (also Aroe Islands or Kepulauan Aru are a group of about ninety-five low-lying Islands in the Maluku province of eastern Indonesia
Unusual for close relatives, the Laughing and Blue-winged species are direct competitors in the area where their ranges overlap. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. This suggests that the two species, though having common stock, evolved in isolation (possibly during a period when Australia and New Guinea were more distant — see Australia-New Guinea) and were only brought back into contact in relatively recent geological times.
Coins
There has been an Australian coin dedicated to the Kookaburra since 1990. That is now not on it.
Postage stamps
A 38c stamp was issued around 1990 and features a pair of Kookaburras.
Behavior
Kookaburras are carnivorous. They will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice and raw meat. The most social birds will accept handouts from humans and will take raw or cooked meat (even if at high temperature) from on or near open-air barbecues left unattended. It is generally not advised to feed the birds too regularly as meat alone does not include calcium and other nutrients essential to the bird. Remainders of mince on the bird's beak can fester and cause problems for the bird.
They are territorial, and often live with the partly grown chicks of the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory.
Kookaburras, when pulled from the nest and hand fed as chicks, can make quite affectionate pets. A pet is an Animal kept for companionship and enjoyment or a househeld animal as opposed to Livestock, Laboratory animals Working animals However their captive diet of mice and beef can be difficult for some people to maintain, their noise can irritate, and they require spacious cages or aviaries to fly about in. But when all the requirements are met they are truly a worthwhile companion pet bird.
In the wild, kookaburras are known to eat babies of other birds and snakes, and insects and small reptiles. In zoos, they are usually fed food for birds of prey, and dead baby chicks.
Songs
- There is a well-known children's song about the Kookaburra. "Kookaburra" (also known by its first line "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree " is a popular Australian Nursery rhyme and
- There is a song called "Kookaburra" by the Cocteau Twins, released on their EP Aikea-Guinea. Cocteau Twins were a Scottish Alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997 Aikea-Guinea is an EP by the Scottish rock group Cocteau Twins, released on 4AD records in March 1985
- There is a song called "Kookaburra" by John Vanderslice on 2007's Emerald City (album). John Vanderslice (born May 22, 1967 in Gainesville Florida) is an American musician formerly of Mk Ultra but now performing Emerald City is the sixth Album by American Singer-songwriter John Vanderslice.
Olly the Kookaburra was one of the three mascots chosen for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The other mascots were Millie the Echidna and Sydney the Platypus. Although the Kookaburra is found in only two places in the world, the distinctive sound that it makes has found its way onto many "jungle sound" soundtracks, used in movies and television as well as certain Disney park attractions no matter where in the world the action is set.
Pop Culture
The Kookaburra has also had an effect on today's society. It has appeared in games such as:
- Lineage 2
- Battletoads
- World of Warcraft
External links
Further reading
- Sarah Legge, Kookaburra: King of the Bush, CSIRO Publishing 2004, ISBN 0-643-09063-0
- Kookaburra sketches and calls at the Australian National Botanic Gardens site.
See Also Laughing Kookaburra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Kookaburra
Dictionary
kookaburra
-noun
- Any of several species of kingfishers in the genus Dacelo, known for their laugh-like call.
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